manufacturing

From gasholders to chic apartments: Tracing the history of the most prominent landmarks in the gasworks industry

The system whereby coal was heated and the resulting gases purified, stored, and distributed to factories, street lamps, public buildings, and, in due course, to every home was developed in the UK in the first decade of the 19th century and exported around the world. Today the 600 remaining gasholders, once familiar industrial structures in every city and town, are being recorded by Historic England prior to being dismantled or converted to other uses, as Chris Catling reports.

The Chance Heritage Trust

Glassmaking was introduced to Smethwick by Thomas Shutt, who started making crown window-glass on a site alongside the Birmingham Canal in 1814. When he died in 1822, his company was sold to Robert Lucas Chance, the business later changing its…

Ancient mirrors

New research from the University of Liverpool (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, October 2024) has given insights into how ancient Egyptian mirrors were manufactured. Metallurgical analysis on 19 Egyptian mirrors from UK museum collections shows three main types of alloy…

The Coker Rope & Sail Trust

There were nine sailmakers in West Coker at the start of the 19th century, and the bleaching fields around the Somerset village were white with canvas sheets laid out in the sun. ‘Coker canvas’ became the generic name for the…

Millstones of the Pennines and North West England

REVIEW BY CERI PENNINGTON This engaging read explores the archaeology, geology, and history of millstones in North-West England and the Pennines. Initially focusing on the background of the study, the volume then moves into examining case studies of specific sites,…

Opposite A pottery kiln was discovered close to the Avenue; here (above) a member of the excavation team is shown holding one of its products.

Return to Priors Hall: exploring a Roman villa estate near Corby

In 2020, we reported on intriguing discoveries emerging from a Roman villa site near Corby, Northamptonshire. Now further excavations have been carried out at Priors Hall, illuminating the area’s industrial heritage, its interconnectivity with other villa sites, and its Iron Age origins. Paddy Lambert reports.

Ministry of Works Signage Appreciation Society

What is it about Ministry of Works signage that motivates so many people to share images via social media? Partly it is just the fact of their survival, as reminders of a simpler age of heritage tourism before the era…

Above The prototype Covenanter with the short lived Besa machine gun position alongside the driver.

Back to the Drawing Board: the Cruiser Tank Mark V ‘Covenanter’ (A13 Mk III)

DAVID PORTER ON MILITARY HISTORY’S DOOMED INVENTIONS.

Greenwich at Work: people and industries through the years

Situated on the bank of the Thames near central London, Greenwich was once a hub of industrial activity, with bustling docks and hundreds of manufacturing, maritime, and riverside trades. The waterway itself is relatively quiet now, and while the area’s…

Inside the Loughborough Bellfoundry museum (FAR LEFT) and manufactory (LEFT), where the ‘Great Paul’ bell, the heaviest rotatable bell in the world, was cast in 1881 for St Paul’s Cathedral. The last time that bells were silenced in British history was during the Second World War, when it was agreed to use them only to signal an invasion. The Trust has recently received £246,500 from the Cultural Recovery Fund to enable it to continue opening to the public with social distancing measures and one way routes in place.

Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust

In October 2020, a public inquiry was under way to consider whether planning consent should be given for the conversion of London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry into a ‘boutique’ hotel. An alternative proposal has been developed by those who wish to…