The Industrial Archaeology of Shropshire by Barrie Trinder

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 319 others used parenthetical references. Amazingly, for a book on “things,” there are very few illustrations of the artifacts described. In the first three parts, only Kristiansen uses illustrations, in his dis­ cussion of Danish barrows and museum collections. Only part 4 in­ cludes the extensive photographs and charts one would have ex­ pected throughout this book. Nor is there an index to guide the reader through the essays and promote the interdisciplinary cooper­ ation the authors espouse. Barbara J. Howe Dr. Howe is the chair of the Department of History at West Virginia University. As an associate professor and director of the public history program, she teaches historic preservation and local history research methods. The IndustrialArchaeology ofShropshire. By Barrie Trinder. Chichester: Phillimore, 1996. Pp. x+278; illustrations, appendixes, notes, bib­ liography, index. £25.00 (cloth). Shropshire is one of the largest inland counties of England. While it features no coastline and no large cities, it does possess a substan­ tial river in the Severn. It has several coal fields and varied minerals, all ofwhich have been mined, and encompasses many acres of rich farmland. The county lies astride the major road from London to Dublin and is crossed by several important canals and railways. Shropshire played a leading part in the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century, especially in the iron trade but also in coal, nonferrous metals, ceramics, and textiles. The old industrial area of the Ironbridge Gorge boasts the first iron bridge in the world and has recently been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is no denying the industrial importance of the county. This makes it particularly surprising that Shropshire was omitted from the ambitious pioneering series ofregional industrial archaeo­ logical studies published thirty years ago by David and Charles. The gap was partially filled in 1973 with the appearance of Barrie Trinder ’s Industrial Revolution in Shropshire, although this was an eco­ nomic and social history concentrating on the east Shropshire coal field. Nobody is better equipped than Trinder to produce a full in­ dustrial archaeological review of the county, and that is what he has now done. The work is a welcome addition to the literature, and it is sure to be well received. Industrial archaeology has matured considerably in the last three decades, and Trinder incorporates a large amount of detailed research with many new insights, such as his determination to present his study as one “based primarily on landscapes” (p. 2). Despite this, there is a certain old-fashionedness about the presentation, which moves from rural industries (al­ though not agriculture, which he specifically excludes—p. 213), 320 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE through the iron industry (included under “Market Town Indus­ tries”), coal mining, textiles (with proper emphasis on the Ditherington linen mill, the first fully iron-framed factory), and nonferrous metal mining, to services and transport (under “Linear Indus­ tries”). This arrangement of topics is largely predetermined by the sub­ ject, but it does indicate some of the problems ofindustrial archaeol­ ogy. In the first place, while landscape study is no doubt an impor­ tant dimension of industrial archaeology, it is a mistake to see this as all, or even the most important part, of the subject. It is primarily about industries, which is why the industrial categories emerge de­ spite Trinder’s attempt to put them into a landscape straitjacket. Industrial archaeology appeals, secondly, to a wide range of people with different interests in industry, ranging from collectors of glass bottles to steam engine enthusiasts to canal restorers to town plan­ ners to teachers of geography and history. The implication of this diversity is that industrial archaeology cannot be packaged as a neat academic subject: it is a field of study rather than a “discipline” and does not stand comfortably on its own as a university subject. Such, at least, seems to have been the experience of those of us who have tried to establish it within a university context. Whereas industrial archaeology has flourished mightily in the museum world—outstandingly in Shropshire, with its splendid Ironbridge and Blist’s Hill Museum complex—it has failed signally to make any lasting impression

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