Historical Background
The Industrial Revolution began to gather pace in the late eighteenth century. The building of the iron bridge over the river Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, in 1779, was a breakthrough because it was the first time that cast iron had been used in major construction work. Once a supply of high-quality mass-produced cast iron was assured, the way was open for the production of steam engines and railway tracks, bridges and girders, spinning machines and all the other hardware of an industrial age.
Evidence of many of these constructions still survives. There are few areas of the country that have been left untouched by the Industrial Revolution and the programme provides an excellent starting-point for an investigation of evidence at local level.
Time line
1761 Opening of the Bridgewater Canal
1771 Richard Arkwright builds his first cotton spinning factory
1779 Building of the iron bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire
1825 The first passenger steam railway is opened
1833 The first effective Factory Act becomes law
1837 Victoria becomes queen
