Editorial

Few academic disciplines have rigid boundaries and it is therefore inevitable that the scope and content of Industrial Archaeology Review can sometimes overlap with other journals, a theme explored by Marilyn Palmer and Hilary Orange in 2016.¹ One of the first questions for the editors, on receipt of articles for consideration for publication, is whether ours is the most appropriate organ, in terms of both providing an outlet for the authors’ research, and in meeting the expectations of our readership. Rejection of what is almost invariably interesting material is perhaps the least satisfying part of the editors’ role, and we always suggest solutions to facilitate publication either here or elsewhere.

Occasionally, submissions are rejected because their approach is essentially historical rather than archaeological. However, an increasing number of articles are rejected, at least in the form initially submitted, because they are focused entirely on the management of industrial heritage. Whilst issues surrounding the preservation, presentation and sustainable re-use of industrial sites will always be an important part of their story, at the most fundamental level, the industrial archaeologist wants to know why the sites merit preservation in the first place. As Paul Shackel wrote in his introduction to the recently published Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology: ‘Where heritage and archaeology meet at industrial sites, we find the excitement of our discipline’.²

The first article in this issue provides an excellent example of the successful marriage of industrial archaeology and heritage management, in which a multi-disciplinary approach to analysing the site informs the development of strategies to ensure that they are preserved and presented for future generations to understand and enjoy. The Lefka Railway Complex in Piraeus, Greece, dates back to 1886 and was at the centre of what became the largest 1m-gauge railway network in Europe. The extensive collection of surviving buildings, including an early 20th-century roundhouse, is of international significance. The article by Theodora Chatzi Rodopoulou, Giorgos Farazis and Jason Zorzos provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of the complex and its current state of conservation, demonstrating the significant role it played in Greece's transport history. In doing so, they present powerful evidence to support greater statutory protection and the development of sustainable new uses for the site to ensure its long-term survival.

Perhaps the highest ambition for the protection of any site is the achievement of World Heritage status, and the number of wholly or partly industrial sites on UNESCO's list is steadily growing. The inscription and subsequent management of these post-industrial World Heritage Sites pose their own distinct challenges, a theme that the Association for Industrial Archaeology explored in its annual conference seminar in 2016. It proved impractical to publish the valuable output from that event so, following the successful addition of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales to the WHS list in 2021, the editors of this journal invited David Gwyn, who was instrumental from the outset in the bid's success, to provide a personal account of the process. The casual observer might consider that the path to successful inscription of this site was smoother than for many other industrial sites around the world but, as Dr Gwyn shows, this process was the result of painstaking assembly of evidence and garnering of community support over a 12-year period. It is hoped that this article will provide support and encouragement to others who might embark on this route, especially for sites featuring mineral extraction.

The narrow-gauge steam railways built to transport slate remain an important feature of the landscape of North-West Wales to this day but, at the opposite end of the country, the industrial focus from the late 18th century was on coal extraction and iron-making. Waterways such as the Monmouthshire and the Brecknock and Abergavenny canals were major arteries for moving raw materials and iron in the valleys, but in this steeply mountainous landscape they were dependent on an extensive network of horse-drawn tramroads to connect to the sites of production. Significant evidence of this network has survived, particularly within the area of the Brecon Beacons National Park, where a long-term project has been surveying and preserving the remains. Rhys Morgan's article describes the 13km Bryn Oer Tramroad, which operated between 1815 and 1865, linking various collieries, limestone quarries and ironworks with the canal network at Talybont-on-Usk, where recent archaeological work has shed new light on its design, construction and operation.

The introduction of new forms of technology into the homes of the wealthy from the late 18th century has, for some time, been recognised as a legitimate and fruitful area of study for the industrial archaeologist, as Marilyn Palmer explained in this journal in 2005.³ This work has highlighted the significance of the exchange of technical innovations between these domestic locations and the industrial environment that is the usual focus of this journal. In particular, it has been shown that an archaeological approach to this aspect of country houses can reveal as much about the lives of the people who worked in them as it can for any factory or other industrial site. This, then, is the background to Lucie Clark's analysis of the electric bells and telephones installed from the 1860s at Hatfield House by its owner, the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. As well as being a wealthy landowner and three times Prime Minister of the UK, Lord Salisbury was a passionate amateur scientist, with a particular interest in electricity; this article shows him to have been at the forefront of its deployment to improve the running of his household.

One of the most exciting developments in industrial archaeology in recent years has been the growth of interest in this discipline in China, and this journal is proud to provide an international outlet for sharing the results of just a small amount of their research. In this issue a team from Sichuan University and the Chongqing Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology describe the evolution of zinc-smelting technology in the Chongqing region, contrasting the historical evidence for the industry from ancient times with the results of recent archaeological investigation of furnaces that operated from the 17th to the 19th centuries, some up to 20m in length.

Notes

1 Marilyn Palmer and Hilary Orange, ‘The Archaeology of Industry; People and Places', Post-Medieval Archaeology 50, no. 1 (2016), 73–91. DOI: 10.1080/00794236.2016.1169812

2 Paul Shackel, ‘Introduction: The Past Made Public’, in Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology, ed. Eleanor Conlin Casella, Michael Nevell, and Hanna Steyne (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 1.

3 Marilyn Palmer, ‘The Country House: Technology and Society’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 27, no. 1 (2005), 97–103. DOI: 10.1179/030907205X44402