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THE BIRTH OF MODERN BRITAIN
A Journey into Britain’s Archaeological Past: 1550 to the Present
FRANCIS PRYOR
Contents
Dedication
List of Text Illustrations and Maps
Introduction: Archaeology and Modern Times
Chapter 1 – Market Forces: Fields, Farming and the Rural Economy
Chapter 2 – ‘Polite Landscapes’: Prestige, Control and Authority in Rural Britain
Chapter 3 – The Rise of the Civil Engineer: Roads, Canals and Railways
Chapter 4 – Rapid Expansion: The Growth of Towns and Cities
Chapter 5 – Dynamic, but Diverse: The Development of Industrial Britain
Chapter 6 – Capitalism Triumphant: Markets, Trade and Consumers 186
Chapter 7 – The Big Society: Faith, Justice and Charity
Chapter 8 – The First Superpower: Defence and Security
Picture Section
For my step-mother, Barbara Jean Pryor, for her quiet support and encouragement.
Plates
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are © Francis Pryor
Model farm, Holkham Park, Norfolk
A view across the lake towards the Pantheon (1754) at Stourhead, Wiltshire
The restored grotto at Painshill, Surrey
A view along the first turnpike road (1663) in the village of Caxton, Cambridgeshire
The cast-iron Waterloo Bridge which carries the great Holyhead Road across the Afon Conwy at Betws-y-Coed
A paired toll house and weighbridge house on either side of the A5 at Ty Isaf
Milestone No. 73
Sunburst gates at the southern end of the Menai Strait suspension bridge
The brickwork façade of the southern entrance to the Blisworth Tunnel, Northamptonshire
A view along the bed of the tramway that led from the valley up to the navvy camp on Risehill, North Yorkshire
Grooves left by drill-holes to pack an explosive charge
Bridge over the A43, where it is crossed by the M1 at Junction 15, near Northampton
The River Porter in Whitely Woods, Sheffield
York Gate
The Paragon
A view of the Forth Rail Bridge
A view of housing in Swindon, Wiltshire
A tipping-cistern toilet block at Hungate, York
The basement floor of so-called ‘cellar houses’
The Stanley Mills, near Perth, from the River Tay
Terrace housing at Caithness Row, New Lanark
New Buildings tenement block
A view of a lead mine by William Ridley of Allenheads
A view along the Washing Rakes at the North of England Lead Mining Museum, at Killhope, Co. Durham
The potbank at the Gladstone Pottery’s Roslyn Works, Longton
Albert Dock, Liverpool (author’s photograph by permission of the Gladstone Pottery Museum)
The recently restored Swiss Bridge in Birkenhead Park, Merseyside
Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, Merseyside
The 768th (2006) Corby Glen Annual Sheep Fair, in the southern Lincolnshire Wolds, near Bourne
The chancel of St Mary’s Church, Bottesford, Leicestershire
The church of St John the Evangelist at Little Gidding, near Peterborough
The
