MD Nevell
The archaeology of the canal warehouses of north-west England and the social archaeology of industrialisation
Nevell, MD
Authors
Abstract
North- West England was the site of Britain's first canal and of one of the last true canal warehouses. The Duke's Warehouse in the Castlefield Canal Basin in Manchester was the first canal warehouse to have the classic design features of internal canal arms, multi-storeys, split level
loading, terracing and water powered hoists, and was built between 1769 and 1771. The Great Northern Warehouse, in the centre of Manchester, was the last of the monumental road, rail and canal interchanges to be built in the Victorian period. Finished in 1898, it marked the close of the canal warehouse tradition and the beginning of motorised road transport storage. Between the two buildings were nearly 130 years of innovation and change. With at least 58
surviving canal warehouses across the region, from Kendal in the north to Bunbury in the south, North- West England contains one of the largest, and most important, groups of canal warehouses in Europe (Figures 1 and 2). As general purpose redistribution centres they were a vital element in feeding the rapidly growing industrial urban populations of the region. Furthermore, their design influenced the building of the first railway warehouses, and later the textile warehouse, and although the canals were superseded by the railway, the canal warehouse remained an important element of the transport economy until the arrival of road haulage in the 1920s. This paper is based upon research undertaken by the author in 2000 and 2001 as part of the
Tameside Archaeological Survey.
Citation
Nevell, M. (2003). The archaeology of the canal warehouses of north-west England and the social archaeology of industrialisation. Industrial Archaeology Review, XXV(1), 43-57
| Journal Article Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | Jan 1, 2003 |
| Deposit Date | Jan 20, 2011 |
| Journal | Industrial Archaeology Review |
| Print ISSN | 0309-0728 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
| Volume | XXV |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 43-57 |
| Publisher URL | http://ice.itm.ingenta.com/content/maney/iar/2003/00000025/00000001/art00004;jsessionid=29wr08un3d8dg.alexandra |
| Additional Information | Funders : Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (TMBC) Projects : Tameside Archaeology Survey |