These pages are maintained by
David Dungworth
Fe09: Coalbrookdale 300. Footprints of Industry, 3rd to 7th June 2009
Announcement and Call for Papers
It will be 50 years since the iconic blast furnace at the centre of the 'Birthplace of Industry' was rediscovered.
That last half century has seen a dramatic expansion of research into historical industrialisation, coupled with
overwhelming public support for the conservation of its material remains. The wide range of disciplines involved –
archaeology, history, metallurgy and conservation – have themselves developed in response to the challenges of
understanding this often fragile heritage. Big themes and issues arise which have tremendous relevance to the world
today: environmental change, social transformation, technological progress, leisure as industry and industry as
leisure. This conference provides an exciting opportunity for inter-disciplinary debate, discussion and analysis,
through which we can find ways to take forward the study of these important processes and bring our findings to bear
on the reality of life today.
Venue
Organisers
Download the: Call for Papers (Adobe Acrobat
version).
The 300th anniversary of the first successful commercial use of coke to smelt iron is an
appropriate moment to consider the impact of the industrial revolution on the modern world.
The conference will be hosted by the
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire with the support of
the Historical Metallurgy Society,
the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology,
the Association for Industrial Archaeology and
the Newcomen Society.
The Conference is being organised by
Paul Belford. Email: paul.belford@ironbridge.org.uk.