The Local Historian Volume 34, Number 4 November 2004

By Marilyn Palmer

In this article, which formed the basis of her 2004 Phillimore Lecture, Professor Palmer explores the developing idea of 'industrial archaeology', a term which was first employed in The Amateur Historian (predecessor of The Local Historian) in 1955. She emphasises the distinctions between industrial archaeology and heritage, though acknowledging that in the popular view the two are almost synonymous. Her own research has been in accordance with the view that it is the mundane rather than the spectacular which often provides the real understanding of lifestyles, working conditions and industrial and craft activities. She then considers the role of handloom weaving in several parts of England, including the south-western woollen towns such as Frome and those in south Gloucestershire; the East Midland hosiery towns; and the north-west. The article considers the perceptions of historians who have investigated handloom weaving, with special attention being paid to the construction or adaptation of dwellings to accommodate looms and weaving frames, and the physical impact which this had on the landscape of individual communities as well as the relationship between buildings and social structures. Palmer suggests that the official; sources, such as parliamentary papers, can be seriously misleading because they paint a gloomy picture of inevitable and uninterrupted decline from the early nineteenth century onwards, whereas the reality was that handloom weaving was tenacious, flexible and remarkably long-lived.