Industrial Britain: An Architectural History

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Batsford Books, Jul 8, 2021 - Architecture - 256 pages

A fascinating insight into Britain's industrial past as evidenced by its buildings, richly illustrated with intricate line drawings.

Industrial Britain goes far beyond the mills and machine houses of the Industrial Revolution to give an engaging insight into Britain's industrial heritage. It looks at the power stations and monumental bridges of Britain, including the buildings and engineering projects associated with the distribution of manufactured goods – docks, canals, railways and warehouses.

  • The gasworks
  • Temples of mass production
  • The mill
  • Warehouse and manufactory
  • Dock and harbour buildings
  • Water power and water storage
  • Waterways: canals and rivers
  • The railway age
  • Breweries and oast houses
  • Markets and exchanges
  • The twentieth century: industry on greenfield sites

It's a story of industrial development, but also a story of its ultimate decline. As manufacturing has been increasingly replaced by services, new uses have been found for at least some of the country's great industrial buildings. Not least as containers for art and heritage, such as the Bankside Power Station (Tate Modern) and Salts Mill. Other buildings featured are still used as originally intended today, such as Smithfield Market in London and the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham.

Illustrated throughout with over 200 original line drawings, Industrial Britain is a celebration of industrial architecture and its enduring legacy.

 

Contents

Introduction
The watermill and windmill
The power station
the mill
Warehouse and manufactory
Water power and water storage
canals and rivers
The railway
Breweries and oast houses
Markets and exchanges
industry on greenfield sites
Postscript
Copyright

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About the author (2021)

Hubert Pragnell is a historian and artist. He holds an MA from Kent and Ph.D from York. He also studied fine art at Goldsmith's College London and the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford. He has written a number of books on British architecture and topographical art. He taught for many years at The King's School, Canterbury, and since 2003 as a tutor for the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education. For many years he has had a particular interest in our industrial heritage which he has felt often neglected in favour of country mansions and parish churches. He lives in Canterbury, Kent.

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