Legislation and reality: the archaeological evidence for sanitation and housing quality in urban workers' housing in the Ancoats area of Manchester between 1800 and 1950

Nevell, MD

Abstract

This paper looks at some of the excavated material for British urban workers’ housing, built and occupied during the period 1800 to 1950 in the Ancoats area of Manchester: Ancoats was notorious amongst contemporary writers and campaigners for its poor quality and over-crowded housing. This archaeological evidence has emerged as a result of developer-funded excavations and represents part of a growing body of data collected since 1990 from within many of the great industrial cities of Britain (Glasgow, London, and Manchester), as well as excavations in the numerous smaller industrial manufacturing towns of the UK. In this study particular attention is given to the impact of national legislation, private acts and local bye-laws aimed at improving industrialized living conditions and the build quality of 19th century workers’ housing occupied into the 20th century. Using excavated examples from more than 50 houses within Ancoats it will be argued that archaeology can provide a distinctive and unique view of urban domestic life in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, whilst demonstrating continuity in occupation patterns during this period. The evidence for urbanized, industrial, living also compliments the more extensive archaeological studies of manufacturing industry from the period.

Citation

Nevell, M. (2014). Legislation and reality: the archaeological evidence for sanitation and housing quality in urban workers' housing in the Ancoats area of Manchester between 1800 and 1950. Industrial Archaeology Review, 36(1), 48-74. https://doi.org/10.1179/0309072814Z.00000000031

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Feb 2, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 1, 2016
• Journal: Industrial Archaeology Review
• Print ISSN: 0309-0728
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 48-74
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/0309072814Z.00000000031
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/0309072814Z.00000000031
• Related Public URLs: http://maney.co.uk/index.php/journals/iar/
• Additional Information: Funders : English Heritage