The changing pattern of consumption is an important element of post-medieval society. The rise of industrial-scale production of goods and the introduction of new luxury products from abroad, such as coffee, sugar, tea and tobacco, led to a consumer revolution. This can be seen in the archaeological record where there is a massive rise in material culture in the 17th and 18th centuries.
This phenomenon can be explored through development control. The recovery of post-medieval ceramics is common on archaeological evaluation and excavations, although they are often seen as of relatively little importance and usually neither fully analysed nor reported, unless part of an exceptionally large or significant assemblage. This is particularly true for 19th-century assemblages. These collections nonetheless have great potential for expanding our knowledge about consumer choices and wider patterns of consumption. Greater priority should be afforded to their full analysis and dissemination.
It is essential that there is more recovery and analysis of assemblages from rural contexts. These are currently much less common than their urban equivalents, although there is still substantial scope for improving our understanding of urban assemblages too. Currently most ceramics and small finds are derived from large deposits, probably indicative of dumping and refuse disposal. Unfortunately this means that analysis is coarse grained and it can be difficult to relate assemblages to individual properties. Instead, increased excavation of urban backlots would be extremely useful, as it would allow smaller assemblages of material to be related to specific properties which, when combined with documentary evidence for dwellings, would open up new possibilities.
In addition to exploring artefactual assemblages, changing patterns of consumer choice can be examined in other ways, such as through furniture and interior decoration. Building recording in a planning context, should allow the recording and, where necessary, the preservation of important decorative schemes, and it is crucial that results are adequately disseminated. Documents such as inventories and probate inventories also offer considerable potential, which can be enhanced further when combined with evidence from standing buildings and archaeology
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Pmed2: How can we better understand the creation and maintenance of social identities in the post-medieval period?
The issue of cultural and ethnic identity is a fascinating and complex one. The post-medieval period saw a major degrees of social and cultural ferment. Industrialisation, shifts in religious belief and practice, population movement (within and beyond the region), the impact of colonialism and Empire, the emergence of new class structures, changes in family structure and wider education all led to profound changes in social identity at individual, group, regional, national and international scale. It is vital to explore the multiple, cross-cutting and even contradictory identities recognisable in the North-East from the 16th to 19th centuries
Social identity could be expressed in a range of ways, from patters of consumption, religious practice and devotion, dress, diet, use of social space to built space and designed landscapes.
The potential for material culture to shed light on these personal identities should be emphasised – artefactual and environmental evidence from excavation contexts all have value beyond simply acting as tool for dating. Artefactual assemblages should be assessed for their ability to shed light on social aspects of post-medieval society.
The creation of national identities should be a focus of further research.
How far were identities based on regional or local belonging manipulated and maintained? Other identities should also be explored, including those based on profession (for example, a coal or lead-mining culture) and religious belief (for example, Catholic, non-Conformist).
Did these lead to the creation of a distinct suite of material culture, architecture or patterns of consumption?
Does the post-medieval period see a rise of class consciousness? How is this reflected in archaeology and architecture?
Did these regional identities contain elements of a wider ‘North Sea’ identity, shared with other North Sea/Baltic coastal regions?
Is there, for example, a North European influence on early gardens? A better understanding is required of the manner in which style and fashion in material culture and architecture might relate to wider national patterns: possible topics include regional furniture, the Gothic revival, internal decoration (for example, wallpaper, stencils, wall painting, etc; Bostwick 1993).
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Pmed3: How can archaeology help us understand life on the Anglo-Scottish border in the post-medieval period?
The Anglo-Scottish border continued to be an area of contention and unrest well into the 16th and 17th centuries. The rise of ‘reiver society’ led to the development of a distinct architectural form (the bastle) and a unique lifestyle and economy based around cattle raiding by extended families. These raiding families, from both sides of the border, had little sense of wider national rivalries; instead there appears to have been a distinct border identity. Although the Union of Crowns in 1603 led to the decline of large-scale cattle raiding, the region continued to be relatively lawless. The 1715 and 1745 rebellion saw further political uncertainty, but by the 19th century the region was firmly English.
The extent to which north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders had a shared sense of cultural identity in 16th and early 17th centuries might be fruitfully be explored. Equally, the process by which distinct English and Scottish identities were constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries is an important avenue for future research.
How was material culture and architecture used to create and maintain a distinct English identity? How far was this identity found throughout the region, and to what extent were there competing ‘Borders’ and ‘Anglo-Scottish’ identities in the north of the region?
At a national political level, England and Scotland developed strongly separate identities in the Middle Ages; these identities became less opposed from 1603 onwards, and from 1707 were partly replaced by a shared British identity. At the local level, the picture is much less clearcut and the central Borders arguably lay outside either national identity until the 17th century. Some aspects of Northumbrian dialect and place-names, for example, are more akin to ‘Scottish’ rather than ‘English’ norms. The archaeological manifestations of ‘Scottish’, ‘English’, ‘Border’, ‘British’ as well as more local identities has an important contribution to make current national debates (both in archaeology and in society more generally) on identity, culture and nationhood.
It is essential that any research into this topic explores data from both sides of the modern border, and extends into the North-West of England. A collaborative project might be an excellent way to bring together archaeologists working on both sides of the border.
For example there is still much to be learnt about bastle architecture. Even basic questions about chronology and distribution have still to be resolved. It is also important to move beyond looking at individual bastle / tower structures; instead they need to be placed in their wider context of associated buildings, enclosures, agricultural structures and wider field systems.
Not all rural settlements on the Anglo-Scottish borders come under the category of bastle; there is a need to better understand the full range of rural settlement types and building forms in this period and to trace the evolution and development of rural settlement form into the 17th and 18th centuries.
Further research on the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed would also be welcome. How does it relate in its form and architecture to other English and Scottish towns?
Finally, is there a divergence in architecture and interior decoration (wall painting, wallpaper, wooden panelling) between north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders in the 18th and 19th centuries? Does this indicate the development of distinct national rather than regional identities? It is also the case that patterns of consumption of domestic goods, such as ceramics, may indicate changing concepts of ideology and identity. The full analysis and dissemination of post-medieval ceramics from north Northumberland should be a priority (Brooks 2003).
A conference bringing together scholars from both sides of the border would help greatly to set the agenda for further research into the Border region.
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Pmed4: How can we better understand North-East England in its national and international context in the post-medieval period?
The North-East has long had widespread links with other parts of Britain and across the North Sea into Europe.
The advent of industrialisation, the expansion of Empire and technological innovations, such as steam locomotion, had an important influence on the way in which the region interacted with both its neighbours and those further afield.
New fashions and ideas entered the North-East, just as quickly as technological advances disseminated outwards.
Research topics include the impact of new international markets (colonial and other) on industrial production, and the recognition of commercial and trade links through material culture, for example ceramics and wood.
A better understanding of the region’s towns would be welcome. Are they ‘Scottish’ or ‘English’, or something else?
The 19th century in particular saw the arrival of new international communities into NE England – Jewish groups, Yemeni sailors, Scandinavian merchants and mariners. Can these groups be identified in the archaeological record – through consumption patterns, design choices or religions/burial practices?
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Pmed5: What was the impact of the English Civil War on the region?
A thorough survey should be undertaken of surviving earthworks related to military operations.
What was the impact of the war on the region’s castles?
How many were re-defended and how many were slighted? Was the level of slighting in the North-East very low compared to other regions, and if so why?
The Civil War within the region involved considerable Scottish military intervention. Can this be distinguished archaeologically? Is the material culture of Scottish troops distinct in any way from that of contemporary English troops, and what are the implications of this for English identity and Border/defensive mindset?
The wider impact of the war should also be explored with a greater awareness of the building campaigns of the mid 17th century. For example, was the post-war building boom in Newcastle a campaign to repair war damage, or was it a response to the upswing of the city’s economy?
Surveys should be undertaken of possible surviving siege-works and defences at Corbridge, Sunderland, Hylton and Newcastle. Survey and detailed analysis could be carried out of major battles, such as Newburn, perhaps in co-operation with local metal-detecting groups.
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Pmed6: How can we better trace changes in religion, belief and devotion in NE England in the post-medieval period?
The post-medieval period saw major changes in religious practice – from the Reformation and the impact of the Dissolution in the 16th century, through the rise of non-Conformity, the revival of Catholicism in the 19th century (building on a level of earlier recusancy) and the introduction of new faith traditions such as Judaism in the 19th century. These all impacted on historic environment in different ways
Changes in burial tradition – there has been a lack of research on post-medieval burial practices, both in terms of cemetery excavation and also survey and analysis of gravestones and other forms of burial markers. Excavation of cemeteries should not just focus on analysis of human remains, but also engage substantively with evidence for burial practices, such as coffin fittings, vault construction etc.
There is a wide-range of standing buildings related to different religious traditions- parish churches, Catholic churches, Quaker meeting houses, Jewish synangogues and Baptist and Methodist chapels. Many of these are threatened with redevelopment due to declining congregations. These need to be adequately recorded in advance of reordering. Local communities and congregations need practical support in understanding their own heritage – for example, advice and support in creating Statements of Significance for the Faculty planning process.
Graffiti: since the medieval period, many churches and chapels have seen the appearance of graffiti. This ranges in sophistication and extent, but forms an important part of the story of the communities who used them. These need to be valued and recorded. In particular, the reordering of churches with the associated removal of pews and repair/replacement of organs can adversely impact on the survival of 19th and 20th century graffiti.
Religious belief commonly permeates beyond the confines of the church chapel. The region has an important surviving resource of medieval and post-medieval crosses, holy wells and other official and vernacular foci for religious devotion. This has been little recorded and is poorly understood; a better understanding is needed of this material – ideal topic for community research.
The Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries had an impact on life and society in the region which went far beyond the confines of religious belief and practice.
To what extent were the medieval church fittings of the region subject to deliberate destruction?
Is there any evidence for resistance to this?
How did forms of patronage and benefaction, traditionally expressed through donations to the church, find alternative means of expression?
The ‘afterlife’ of ecclesiastical houses, particularly for smaller and urban establishments requires study: what happened to Blanchland Priory in the 16th and 17th centuries?
What was the impact of the redistribution of monastic land and estates, for example, the post- Reformation reorganisation of Durham Priory land?
The recording and survey of 17th-century church furnishing should be a matter of priority.
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Pmed8: How can archaeology help us better understanding the development of facilities for social welfare and civil life in the post-medieval period?
The post-medieval period saw the growth of civil life with the increased provision of a range of institutions relating to self-help and education as well as to leisure. This includes reading rooms and mechanics’ institutes, as well as parks, museums and theatres. Wider engagement in social provision and support can also be recognised with the construction of workhouses, hospitals and asylums.
However, many of these buildings are now increasingly threatened by redevelopment. Where necessary, suitable re-ordering should be undertaken, particularly of surviving internal fittings.
A survey of various categories of public building including libraries, reading rooms, mechanic institutes and theatres should be added to the region’s HERs and, where appropriate, inscribed into Local Lists backed by development plan policies.
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Pmed9: What was the role of the sea and the maritime economy in NE England in the post-medieval period?
The sea and shipping are an important facet of the story of NE England in the post-medieval period. Ships were built on the Tees, Tyne and Wear. Even after the development of the railways, much of the region’s coal production continued to be transported via colliers, developing an important infrastructures of staithes.
There is a need to better understand the development of the regions ports and harbours – building on the work of Stafford Linsley and the CAU survey of ports. These are complex maritime landscapes comprising docks, quays and staithes, as well as warehouses, shipyards, rope works and other facilities. Standing building recording and archaeological excavation can all shed light on the development of these complex maritime cultural landscapes. Often later 19th and 20th century developments at these sites have destroyed the standing remains of earlier phases of activity – but archaeological excavation has the potential to capture surviving evidence for older activity, such as quaysides, docks and other infrastructure.
Fishing was also a particularly important facet of the maritime economy of the region – major centres such as North Shields were nationally important nodes in the herring industry, but smaller sites, such as Seaham, Cullercoats and Beadnell were also important as centres for fishing. There is a need to better record, understand and protect the infrastructure for this industry – including bark pots, net stores, smoke houses and other processing facilities and ice houses.
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Pmed10: Industrialisation – Early coal industry and coal use
The sea and shipping are an important facet of the story of NE England in the post-medieval period. Ships were built on the Tees, Tyne and Wear. Even after the development of the railways, much of the region’s coal production continued to be transported via colliers, developing an important infrastructures of staithes.
There is a need to better understand the development of the regions ports and harbours – building on the work of Stafford Linsley and the CAU survey of ports. These are complex maritime landscapes comprising docks, quays and staithes, as well as warehouses, shipyards, rope works and other facilities. Standing building recording and archaeological excavation can all shed light on the development of these complex maritime cultural landscapes. Often later 19th and 20th century developments at these sites have destroyed the standing remains of earlier phases of activity – but archaeological excavation has the potential to capture surviving evidence for older activity, such as quaysides, docks and other infrastructure.
Fishing was also a particularly important facet of the maritime economy of the region – major centres such as North Shields were nationally important nodes in the herring industry, but smaller sites, such as Seaham, Cullercoats and Beadnell were also important as centres for fishing. There is a need to better record, understand and protect the infrastructure for this industry – including bark pots, net stores, smoke houses and other processing facilities and ice houses.
PM10 Industrialisation – Early coal industry and coal use
The coal industry was a core to economy and society in the NE England in the post-medieval period.
The early development of the coal industry from the medieval period to the early 19th century needs further research, especially technological developments and the growth of early industrial communities. Other areas for further study are the early development of coal-using technologies, notably in the salt, glass, pottery and nonferrous metal industries. This research can be progressed through both the development-control process and proactive investigations.
Development control needs to be particularly aware of early industrial remains around Whickham and Gateshead. To ensure improved targeting of archaeological evaluation and excavation there should be a survey of documentary and cartographic evidence for early mining in order to identify precise locations. This information should be fed through into the regional HERs.
Development-control commissioned fieldwork should also be aware of the potential for the survival of buried remains of early colliery buildings on later sites. Sub-surface mineworkings may survive. These may be revealed during modern opencast mining and other deep-ground disturbances, and may require stabilisation (and therefore archaeological destruction) in advance of other surface developments. It is essential that appropriate archaeological monitoring processes be put in place to record such remains
The North-East was a world leader in the development of early railways. This needs to be recognised in on-going research. Three avenues have been defined.
First, investigation should focus on the earliest wagon-ways and pre-locomotive hauled lines, as well as activity at the terminals of early railways, specifically the development of coal staithes.
Second, existing landscape features along the course of known early wagon-ways require survey, including railway formations, track-beds and gradients.
Third, the courses of early railways should be plotted on the region’s HERs. This will require archive research on early documentary and cartographic sources.
Whilst high-status and architect designed buildings have seen substantial recording and are often well understood, there is a whole range of lower status domestic buildings that are less well known. This includes industrial housing connected to coal mining and other large-scale industries (particularly examples from the 18th and earlier 19th century); there is also a wide rage of workers housing connected to smaller industries that remains poorly recorded and need to be better understood- and recording is important whether they survive as standing building stock or only as archaeological sites.
In addition to the housing connected to industrial centres, rural housing and workers housing in small towns also needs greater formal recording.
The greatest change during the post-medieval period was the rise and massive expansion of industrial production in the region. The North-East was one of the foremost centres of technological and industrial innovation in the industrial revolution in Britain, and had a profound influence far beyond the shores of the North Sea.
It is important to recognise, though, that industrialisation is not purely a technological process, it grew out of important changes in economic relationships and provoked shifts in the articulation of the workforce with financiers and proprietors. As a social process it profoundly influenced the way in which people lived, causing major new patterns in both production and consumption. It is important to explore both the technological side of the industrial revolution in the North-East and the wider social impact of the explosive growth of the region’s industrial economy.
What is the effect of industrialisation on settlement patterns? This needs to be broken down chronologically; 16th/17th century industrialisation is very different from 18th/19th century industrialisation. Study of the development of early urban/proletarian industrial communities is important, key sites include Whickham and Gateshead, both associated with the early coal industry.
There is a need for an improved understanding of the cultural effects of population movement due to industrialisation. How do new groups become articulated with the urban economy?
More work is required on early-19th-century colliery housing; can archaeological investigation supplement information derived from documents?
What is the relationship between industry and other economic aspects of society? It is important to explore variation within industrial areas, for example, the difference between Blackett-Beaumont and London Lead Company lead-mining areas or the difference between the archaeology and architecture of Winlaton Mill village and those villages not connected to Crowley’s industrial concerns.
As a process, the industrial revolution was as much about changes in patterns of consumption as production.
What governs the choices made about consumption by the region’s population: supply, economy, ideology?
For consumption to be better understood, material culture assemblages must be related to individual properties. In urban situations an interest in excavation in backyards should be emphasised.
The recovery of post-medieval assemblages from rural sites and colliery villages is also particularly important. In rural contexts, different disposal strategies such as manuring and middening may be at work.
Environmental assemblages (faunal remains; macrofossils) need to be analysed alongside ceramic assemblages to provide an integrated understanding of shifts in dietary consumption patterns and shifts in access to foodstuffs and developments in taste/personal preference.
As a process, the industrial revolution was as much about changes in patterns of consumption as production.
What governs the choices made about consumption by the region’s population: supply, economy, ideology?
For consumption to be better understood, material culture assemblages must be related to individual properties. In urban situations an interest in excavation in backyards should be emphasised.
The recovery of post-medieval assemblages from rural sites and colliery villages is also particularly important. In rural contexts, different disposal strategies such as manuring and middening may be at work.
Environmental assemblages (faunal remains; macrofossils) need to be analysed alongside ceramic assemblages to provide an integrated understanding of shifts in dietary consumption patterns and shifts in access to foodstuffs and developments in taste/personal preference.
Compared with the coal and lead industries, relatively little work has been undertaken on the region’s important iron and steel industry. Further work on early (18th-century or earlier) industrial technology is a priority, as is a better understanding of ironstone mining, particularly in Cleveland.
This should include research into the wider social infrastructure, including housing and social provision. As regards smelting, the 19th-century furnaces of Northumberland, and the remaining evidence for the 19th/20th-century Cleveland industry, are of particular value.
The development of urban foundries in the 18th century, and forges, rolling mills and engineering works in the later 18th and 19th centuries is also of considerable interest
Coastal salt production was an important local industry from the medieval period until the 18th century. Medieval production sites, presumably initially using the ‘sleeching’ process, were widespread according to documentary evidence, though with the exception of the Tees estuary very few have been identified archaeologically.
The development of the ‘direct boiling’ process (using coal fuel and iron pans to produce salt from seawater without prior concentration) is generally held to have occurred on Tyneside in the early 15th century, though scattered mentions of coal fuel in salt-making indicate that the development was more widespread both geographically and chronologically. ‘Direct boiling’ on Tyneside, along the North-East coast more generally, and in adjacent regions (southern Scotland and Cumbria) in the late Middle Ages, was the first major coal-fuelled industry and is therefore vital in understanding coal-based industrialisation both nationally and internationally.
The Tyneside salt industry remained of considerable regional importance until the end of the 17th century, but a separate rocksalt/brine-based industry also developed on Teesside in the mid 19th century, a regional variant of the national salt industry which made an important contribution to the growth of the chemical industry on Teesside
More research is needed on ceramic production sites, including documentary work to locate them (for example, through field- and place-names). Early local pottery industries (16th/17th-centuries) are particularly poorly known and there is an apparent gap between local medieval production and the known 18th/19th-century industries. It is important to increase our knowledge of kilns and their associated buildings
The period between 1790 and 1830 was the peak for industrial intensification and innovation (for example, cast iron rails, rope-worked inclines, locomotives, pumping technology).
There was also important agricultural innovation, including the adoption of the first gin-gangs and later stationary steam engines.
The introduction of specific new breeds was a feature of livestock innovation from 1780 to 1820, with work by the Collings of Darlington and Culleys of North Northumberland greatly influencing world agriculture, leading to the world’s first herd book in 1822 on Durham shorthorn cattle.
These technological changes, however, did not come without profound impacts and rupture in traditional society. This period must be a focus for indepth research, not only into industrial production and manufacture, but also into major contemporary developments in agriculture, including stockbreeding, enclosure and vernacular architecture.
Detailed survey of farm buildings and associated infrastructure, such as stock pens and enclosures should be a priority.
Where necessary, good examples of early19th-century farm buildings should be added to Local Lists and backed by development plan policies.
Detailed surveys of remaining gin-gangs and stationary engine houses should be carried out, building on the work of Stafford Linsley and Susanna Wade-Martins.
The North Pennines forms a distinctive post-medieval industrial zone. While lead mining was important from the medieval period onwards, its massive industrial expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries led to a profound transformation in the landscape and society of the area.
Despite extensive research on the industrial archaeology of the lead industry significant new work is still required. It is important, however, to push beyond detailed investigation of the technological aspects of the industry and explore the social dimension of lead mining. For example, the pattern of company towns, miner-smallholdings and remote mine shops created a particular settlement landscape which was profoundly influenced by the industry, yet intimately bound up with co-existing upland agriculture, which was mainly dominated by sheep farming. The role of the lead-mining companies as providers of social infrastructure, such as housing, water supplies, co-operatives and reading rooms, is also a core research topic.
There has also been little analysis of the material culture of the inhabitants of the region. Despite substantial collections of objects held in museums, such as Beamish and the Weardale Museum, their potential to expand our knowledge of day-to-day life in the dales has yet to be exploited. The architectural and archaeological investigation of postmedieval houses is also crucial.
There is great potential to explore many aspects of the historic environment through the establishment of community projects, capitalising on local enthusiasm for the region’s lead mining heritage. Work by existing groups, such as the North-East Vernacular Architecture Group and the Weardale Society, must be encouraged, as must the dissemination of their conclusions.
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