Industrial Workers’ Housing in Britain

Nevell, Michael

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the archaeological and standing buildings evidence for industrial housing directly associated with industry and urbanization in Britain during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Such housing was a necessary counterpart to the urban, steam-powered factory. Industrial housing encompasses many building types, the primary ones being blind-backs, back-to-backs, court houses, through-houses, tenements, and workshop dwellings. This chapter provides an overview of archaeological work on workers’ housing since the 1990s in Britain. Excavated examples of housing from Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Sheffield, and York are discussed, which show how archaeological evidence can throw light on the issues of legislation, household groups and mobility, overcrowding, build quality, sanitation, and disease.

Citation

Nevell, M. Industrial Workers’ Housing in Britain. In The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology (507-528). Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199693962.013.32

• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 18, 2024
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Pages: 507-528
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology
• Chapter Number: 31
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199693962.013.32