SIASG 5

 

SUSSEX INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY STUDY GROUP

No. 5 April 1970 


THE NATIONAL SURVEY
This note is to provide some background information to new members and to ensure that other members do not overlook our initial and basic request - the completion of industrial archaeology record cards. Active members of the Group are asked to consider this most carefully and take necessary action.

The Council for British Archaeology, in association with the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, began the National Survey of Industrial Monuments in 1963, its job to record the surviving evidence of industrial development, particularly that dating from the 18th century. The national record is based on special report cards, completed by volunteers, and then collected and classified at Bath University of Technology. With these cards it then becomes possible to assess the importance of an industrial monument or other relic in order to ensure the preservation of the best type examples. There are groups in regions or counties acting as co-ordinating centres for onward transmission of these cards to Bath. Here they are copied and re-turned.

The position in Sussex is that with the exception of watermill cards from Mr. Frank Gregory and tollhouse cards from Mr. Brian Austen's survey group, very little has been done towards fulfilling this urgent need for the National Survey. Urgent because of the continued destruction or decay of the surviving ground evidence with which we are having to deal. The time for action must be now. 

Using the Record Cards

  1. The cards are available, free to members, from the General Secretary.
  2. It is not necessary to be a qualified architect or engineer to fill in these cards. Simple outline information only is required. If there is difficulty in entering information, please do not fail to return a part-completed card. Also do not leave blank spaces. Write `Nil' or `Unknown', or contact one of the survey co-ordinators. The only space to be left blank is the Reference Number.
  3. Grid Reference or Location: a 6 figure 1" O.S. map reference, preceded by grid letters. For Sussex this is either SU/TQ/SZ/TV - see the map. Otherwise give information such as "at rear of premises, no. 47 Blank Street".
  4. Date of report: the date when the report and investigation was made.
  5. Present Condition: indicate either -
    "in use" (if not original use, give present one). "intact" (not used, but good condition). "ruinous" (deteriorating, but still standing). "ruined" (little standing, identified by rubble, etc.). 
  6. Architectural Features: it is appreciated that this will be filled in at various levels by reporters with different skills. If there is any difficulty the General Secretary will be able to put members in contact with experts in all major fields of interest. See also Kenneth Hudson's Handbook for Industrial Archaeologists , chapter 3, "Describing and Recording" (John Baker, 1967). 
  7. Indicate in the Description space the owner of the building or machinery.
  8. Danger of Demolition or Damage: if there is a danger, in the case of very interesting features, please contact the Secretary. A further, more detailed investigation might be organised, and appropriate museums and other bodies inforrned to see if they can accommodate any item the owner might wish to see preserved.
  9. Type or write clearly in dark ink, in view of Xerox copying at Bath.
  10. On the reverse of the card add either a photograph or a sketch.
  11. Send the completed card either to a survey co-ordinator or to the General Secretary. It will be returned.
  12. Please note that the completed card is not regarded as being a definitive record. In many cases
    it is only the first, but very necessary, step in the procedure of recording. When we possess what we judge to be a fair and representative collection of cards it is then possible to evaluate what is worth further investigation, and a more detailed survey by an expert can then be made.
  13. The principal items being recorded are:
    Power - horse gins/donkey wheels/watermills/windmills/steam engines/cranes. Raw Materials - mines/lime works/quarries.
    Manufacturing - breweries/tanneries/brickworks/ropeworks etc., etc. Transport -tollhouses/milestones/bridges/canals/railway architecture. Domestic - ice houses/water & lighting/workhouses /`model' housing.

THE SURVEYS 

Power Survey
A. Natural Power - Findon, part of horse-powered bark mill (the exact location not given by owner's request). This probably came from the Storrington Tannery, on the site of which there still stands a horse round house (TQ089142), see N/L 3, .p.l. Mrs. Margaret Holt writes that a very unusual flower container stands on the grass outside a Findon cottage. It formed the central part of a bark-cutting device, but the outer section was retained in Storrington when this was brought to Findon by a builder many years ago. The bark-cutter is constructed of heavy iron, circular in shape,4'2" high, 3'8" in diameter and 11' in circumference. The sides have projecting, tapered blades.

Stanmer Park, donkey wheel (TQ336096). Restoration has been conducted by Brighton Corp-oration. The alarming growth of ivy has been removed from the roof of the well house, which has been completely retiled. It now remains to restore the wheel.

Burwash, Park Mill Batemans (TQ670237). The Group has now agreed with the National Trust the basis on which it is to look after the restoration of this 18th century watermill with its three pairs of stones and auxiliary gear. A project team has made a survey of the building and the machinery, following which cost estimates are being prepared for the Trust. During the Summer, working parties will carry out the first stages of restoration, including cleaning out debris and treating timbers and machinery with pesticides and preservatives. It is hoped that the ground floor will be rebuilt and better access provided during this time. Members wishing to take part in this work should contact Mr. W. R. Beswick (address p.8).

Burwash, Batemans, Turbine Generator. Adjacent Park Mill is this plant installed by Kipling in 1902 to generate his own electricity. Restoration procedure is now in hand with Colonel Hawkins acting in a local advisory capacity. Arrangements have been made for the turbine to be taken to the Royal School of Military Engineering, Chatham, where it is to be restored to full working order. There will also be associated work by the Royal Engineers to clear and clean the pond and dam.

Hurstpierpoint, Cobbs Mill (TQ274189). This is a working watermill, in commercial operation about four years ago. Members interested in seeing this put in order again should contact Mr. Frank Gregory (address p.8). He will be directing some renovation work and requires assistance.

Windpumps. These steel structures have been mainly used for water pumping and/or electrical generation. Few are now working, and one day, like windmills, will be lost features of the past. Representative examples are being recorded. Work is being carried out in the Uckfield R.D.C. area by the Uckfield & District Preservation Society. One of their members has restored a windpump at Wimsey Hill, Nether Lane, Nutley. Information on these machines should be sent to Mr. Gregory.

Rottingdean, windmill at Beacon Hill (TQ366025). This smock mill has been in a steady state of deterioration for many years. Probably dating from the 18th century, it was removed to its present site in 1802 (Sussex Weekly Advertiser, June 7th 1802). Milling ceased by or before the First World War. In 1935 the fantail, stage, and stones were removed for safety. Since then the mill has been developing a dangerous deformity, and is at present guyed by two steel stays. It is known by its outline the world over, being the original of Heinemann's house-motif carried on all their books. If sufficient funds are collected by the Rottingdean Preservation Society a steel framework will be inserted. Donations may be sent to Miss J. E. Seymour, 64 Dean Court Road, Rottingdean, Brighton.
B. Fuel Power - Yapton Village Hall was formerly Sparkes Steam Engine Works. The history of this firm is being collected by Mr. A. S. Reen, 15 Park Road, Yapton, near Arundel. Further information is sought.

The Tollhouse and Milestone Survey
For background information see N/L4, pp.1-2.
Blackstone Gate Tollhouse (TQ245173). Report from Mrs. Margaret Holt: This was one of the toll cottages constructed about 1777 when the Henfield - Hurstpierpoint - Ditchling road was turnpiked. The cottage is single storied, mainly of brick with some weather boarding, and a tiled roof. It is of simple design and consists of three rooms to which a later addition of one bay extends its L shape. It is conservative in design and still retains an open hearth with central chimney. The overall length is only 32 feet. The windows have shaped dressings with side-sliding frames, typical of cottage windows in this area, and the doorway has a very plain fanlight intersected by simple glazing bars. The bricks are slightly larger than usual, 9" x 4¼" x 2¾".

Milestones - A Brighton-Horsham milestone.
One has been located as a headstone to a grave in Langley-bury churchyard, near Watford, Herts. An epitaph is now inscribed on its reverse side. Its original location is not yet known.

Bow-Bell Milestones. This is the finest surviving series in the county, between Felbridge - Uckfield - Hailsham (A22), and Uckfield -Lewes(A26), see N/L 2, p.4. Messrs. David Butler and Kim Leslie have prepared a report on their individual present condition, with a full photographic record, accompanied by a site map by Miss Jane Goode, for presentation to East Sussex County Council. The result of this work is that the County Surveyor has agreed to take action in the case of those badly needing treatment, and to resite or protect any felt to be in situations likely to cause further deterioration. The report has shown that no. 44 on the A26 south of Uckfield is missing, and that no. 55 is in a private garden in Hailsham. No. 44 will most probably be recast, based on the duplicate 44 on the A22 route. At present no. 53 from Lower Dicker is on display at the Wealden Ironmasters Exhibition at Batemans, Burwash, on temporary loan from the County Council.

Varied Condition

64 London Road East Grinstead

TQ 462254 Maresfeld

Railway Architecture Survey
This has been a most successful survey, the initial work being virtually complete. Nearly all surviving structures, particularly stations and viaducts have been photographed and examined so that it has become possible to classify architecture by date and/or style. The next stage is to commit this in-formation to the industrial archaeology record cards. The survey co-ordinator, Mr. John Hoare, is thus now in a position to determine outstanding structures for a detailed survey. His report indicates that pri-ority must be given to the following. List A must take priority as it is possible they may be threatened with demolition or the heavy hand of British Rail in some form or other.
List A
1. Rye Station, 1851, goods shed, crossing-keeper's cottage, signals.
2. Arundel & Littlehampton. ) disused and little altered since c.1846. 
    Drayton                                   )
4. Polegate. Remains of 1846 original buildings by High Street crossing.
5. Hassocks. A major and expensive station reconstruction of 1881.
6. East Grinstead. Another major late Victorian monument of 1882. High Level already mostly demolished, but a good record is still needed. 
7. Christs Hospital, 1899-1902. A fine if decaying example of a little-touched period piece.
List B. Less urgent, but a full and detailed record essential.
1. Battle )
2. Etchingham ) Perhaps the most interesting of William
3. Robertsbridge ) Tress S.E.R. series of stations, 1851-52. 
4. Stonegate )
5. Bexhill West, 1902. Red-brick terminal building.
6. Brighton ) The large stations in Sussex, all with
7. Lewes ) features of interest.
8. Eastbourne )
9. A characteristic building of the 1860-80 period should also be recorded, e.g. Amberley, Buxted, Pulborough, Southwater.
10. The major viaducts - Ouse Valley, Balcombe. London Road, Brighton. Imberhorne, East Grinstead. 

Brewery Survey
The Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries - an historical note
Dr. R. Bristow (6 Brackley Road, Beckenham, Kent)
The Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries Ltd. was registered on July 11th 1895 to acquire the business of Dashwood & Co., the Hope Brewery, East Grinstead, and A.G.S. & T.S. Manning, The Southdown Brewery, Lewes. The Hope Brewery has been in the hands of the Dashwood family since-at least 1878, but the Southdown concern had been owned by the Hillman family until after 1892, a family which had been active in brewing in the town from the early years of the century. Having acquired the business, the Mannings remained in control after the merger, until Tamplins bought them out in 1923.

The Hope Brewery appears to have had about 20 public houses, most of them in Sussex, but with one in Kent (The Crown, Cowden) and three in Surrey (Prince of Wales, Baldwins Hill, Royal Oak, .Dormans-land, Ship Bridge Inn, Burstow). The Southdown Brewery seems to have had about half this number, all in Sussex. However, the combined firm increased rapidly in size in 1898 by taking over 53 houses from two other brewers, Monk & Sons, Bear. Yard, Cliffe, Lewes, and the Dolphin Brewery, Cuckfield. This gave the concern property in the area bounded by East Grinstead, Burwash, Hastings, Newhaven, Warninglid and Burstow. At the time of take-over they owned 85 freehold and three leasehold licensed premises.

The Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries was liquidated on April 25th 1924, having been sold to Tamplins for £274,075. The buildings remain of only one of the breweries - the Southdown - in Daveys Lane, Lewes. Thomas Street, another approach road, is still lined with what appear to be brewery cottages. The brewery building itself, now gutted, is owned by E. O. Culverwell Ltd. A maltings formed part of the complex until demolition in 1969.

The Brewhouse of Monk & Son, of Bear Yard, has long since gone; Monk had taken over the business from the Wood family, who were brewing on the site in 1839. The Dolphin Brewery, Cuckfield, was formerly known as Goldings, then as the Kings Head Inn. It continued to be used as brewery stores throughout the period 1895-1923, but the Kings Head is not listed as one of the public houses sold to Tamplins. The Hope Brewery, East Grinstead, is not mentioned either. It was probably disposed of earlier, and the brewery site is now occupied by the gasworks.

Illustrated are photographs of two beer bottle labels of the company. Other material was to be found at the White Lion, East Grinstead, prior to rebuilding in 1965. A large stone plaque outside advertised `Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries Celebrated Ales and Stout', while inside were two large mirrors advertising the firm. The latter have been preserved by Watney Mann Ltd. A further relic is to be found on Sheffield Park Railway Station, where a metal sign advertises `Southdown and East Grinstead Breweries Ales and Stout'.

(Acknowledgements are made to Tamplins Brewery Ltd. and to Mr. N. Barber for use of his private notes on British Breweries.)


The Southdown Brewery, Lewes. Photo: D. Butler.

Beer Bottle Labels. Photo: H. Hordern.

We have to record the resignation as brewery survey co-ordinator of Mr. Peter White. This is be-cause his work with the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments has increased, as he is now i/c industrial monuments in England. He will still continue to assist this survey in Sussex, but not in an organisational capacity.

Brighton, Black Lion Street Brewery. There has been a brewery on this site since about 1545, a site which only abandoned its brewery connection in 1968 with its closure as a store and bottling plant by Fremlins of Maidstone. It is a grade 11 building, of a small group of pre-Regency buildings that still survive in Brighton. There are Victorian additions. An application has been made to Brighton Corporation for listed building consent for partial demolition on behalf of a property company. The application and plans are being investigated under the statutory provisions.

Ice House Survey
Arundel Castle (TQ015075). Chichester High School for Boys Industrial Archaeology Group has completed clearing and surveying this ice house under the direction of Mr. J. Powicke. The Group will probably soon start on recording the more elaborate ice house at West Dean.

Hurstpierpoint (exact location not given by owner's request). Mrs. Holt has located a most interesting example that went with a small Georgian house in the village, now demolished. The little ice house, however, survives, now converted to a summer house. A wooden door gave access to the small ice area only three or four feet below the surface of the ground; a drain for the melt-water survives.. What is most unusual is that it was originally thatched, although now tiled. This type of roofing is a reminder of a 19th century debate on how to build an ice house - should it be well concealed, totally under ground away from the sun, or above, or partly above ground, with only a light cover? William Cobbett favoured the latter based on what he had seen when in America, and derided the more substantial forms of ice house. We have in this local example an interesting link with Cobbett's point of view.

Bognor Regis, London Road, near Public Library. Restoration is now almost complete. In this the Group has worked closely with the U.D.C. in preparing plans to make sure that nothing of significance was destroyed in the work, and that it was done as sympathetically as possible in keeping with its late 18th century date. The Group located an original inner door (rarely found) at Petworth ice house, on which the design of the inner door at Bognor has been based. Drawing for the door was by Mrs. M. Hallam of Heyshott. There will be a notice board erected shortly, explaining the function of an ice house and its key features, with text supplied by the Group, added to which will be local historical information by Mr. Gerard Young.

Iron in Sussex
The Wealden iron industry, with its terminal date in the early 19th century, is the subject of investigation by the Wealden Iron Research Group. We liase with this group through Mr. David Butler, (address, p. 8). It is natural that finds and information should often be directed towards the Industrial Archaeology Group, and so we are in close contact with the Research Group, and passing on all relevant information. East Sussex Secretary, Mr. W. R. Beswick, reports a small bloomery site of Romano- British date at Turners Green, near Heathfield. Carbon 14 determination of charcoal samples by the British Museum is awaited.

Members who saw the iron smelting experiment at Horam last July will be interested to know that the results have now been published: Henry Cleere: Iron Smelting Experiments in a Reconstructed Roman Furnace, 1970. This is published by the Iron and Steel Institute, 4 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW 1., price 5/-.

Wealden Ironmasters Exhibition, Batemans, Burwash. This is a two year exhibition at Batemans, now in its final year, organised by the Wealden Iron Research Group, the Robertsbridge & District Arch-aeological Society and this Group. It traces production in the Weald from Roman times to the 1820's, by way of maps, diagrams, models and many surviving artefacts, including a water-powered tilt hammer found at East Grinstead. Open Mondays to Thursdays - 11.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. & 2.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays 2.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m. until 31st October 1970.

Flint-Building Industry
The Group has undertaken to assist Mr. Robert Frasch of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, New York, in his investigating a possible link between flint work in England and cobblestone masonry buildings in the Great Lakes Region, c.1825-60. Here local masons used carefully matched rounded glacial stones laid in rows according to an almost endless variety of patterns. To help see if there are any similarities in cobble/flint work between the two countries the Group is beginning to collect data, with particular reference to the late 18th century.

CHRONICLE, BBC, March 14th 1970 - "Win a Second-hand Crane"
This programme featured the work of industrial archaeologists throughout the country, and was intended to help strengthen the interest in the subject by publicity and the offer of one prize of £250, and 7 prizes of £25. Of 65 entries received, the Group was placed within the first eight, and received £25. Several criteria were used to produce the short list. It appears that we were selected for two main reasons. Firstly, the successful involvement we have developed with local authorities and other bodies, such as both county councils, R.D.C.'s, the National Trust etc. All the links made have had results and created action. Secondly, our publicity: our work has been featured on both television networks in the south, on national, south and west teatures from Bristol, and Radio Brighton. Since 1967 there has been extensive press cover-age, including the national media and magazines. (A recent interview was given to Readers Digest.) There have been many exhibitions; the stand at the Franco-British Trade Fair was the first time industrial archaeology has been featured at such an event, with the added point that we were displaying the subject matter in two languages, with the aid of the Science Museum. The result of a dynamic approach to advertise ourselves has brought in a wealth of information for recording. If industrial arc haeology is urgent, then purposeful, organised publicity is absolutely essential if we are to do our work.

THE OPEN AIR MUSEUM, WEST DEAN, NEAR CHICHESTER
This museum will be of interest to all industrial archaeologists as it is providing a site not only for the preservation and re-erection of early timber-framed houses, but also for the preservation and display of rural industries and crafts.
The Museum will open to the public for the first time later this year: weekends in September and the first two in October. By then the following will be on display: I. Winkhurst Farmhouse, c. 1400.  2. Granary from Littlehampton, 1731. 3. Tollhouse from Upper Beeding, 1807, and tollhouse tafiff boards. 4. Donkey, or tread, wheel from Catherington, Hampshire, c. 1600. 5. Charcoal kiln, and burners' turf hut. 6. Agricultural equipment, including waggons and a 1913 Mogul tractor.

There is much in store, including a horse round-house from Bersted, and a horse-powered chaff-cutter from Lingfield, Surrey. The further realisation of the scheme is now dependent on a public appeal for funds to raise £100,000. Also volunteer labour is needed to help prepare the site. If you can offer labour, please contact Mrs. Pamela West, 11 Selsey Avenue, Bognor Regis. In other words this is an opportunity for all interested in preservation to do something practical and valuable. The Industrial Archaeology Group is already very closely linked with the scheme. An illustrated Guide to the Museum is now avail-able, price 3/- (post free) from The Director, The Open Air Museum, West Dean, Near Chichester. 

PUBLICATION REVIEWS
Paul Adorian, The Story of Gibbons Mill, (S.P.A.B., 1970). 23pp., 7/6.
Mr. Adorian is one of our members. Since he acquired the mill in the mid-1950's (on the Arun in Rudgwick parish, TQ072308), he has undertaken the dual task of restoring the property and gathering its history. Although it ceased to grind over 50 years ago, the mill can still be used for generating electricity, having been converted into a hydro-electric plant about 1901.

The early history of the mill is speculation, and it is not until the 17th and 18th centuries that firm documentary evidence is reached. Much valuable evidence derives from Thomas Davis's Survey of Mill House Farm, 1767, and Arundel Castle and Petworth House archives from the 1780's. What we would like to know though is why the Water Bailiff's book on the Arun of 1636 fails to give any mention of Gibbons Mill.

Apparently there were considerable extensions in the 19th century which Mr. Adorian believes might have been to cope with an expected increase in business from the proposed Horsham Canal - some-what misplaced optimism! Sometime before 1882 a steam engine was installed for standby power, and then at the turn of the century flour-milling ceased altogether with conversion to a generating plant. Some of the original electrical equipment survives. Another use of the turbine was for pumping water from a well, a good example of late Victorian domestic engineering, still in working order.. As industrial archaeology advances in Sussex we continue to be amazed at the remarkable survivals of early equipment being recorded. Mr. Adorian's writings prompts one to be impatient to know about the hundreds of other industrial sites in private occupation in the county.
Kim Leslie

Arthur Young, General Yew of the Agriculture of the County of Sussex, 2nd edn. (1813), 
David & Charles reprint, 1970. 481pp. 126s. (before 1.7.70., 105s.)
Industrial archaeology has been well served by David & Charles, but up to now Sussex has re-ceived, perhaps understandably, little attention, except for the reprint of Straker's Wealdon Iron and Paul Vine's London's Lost Route to the Sea. Now we have the first facsimile production of an important 19th century source, which despite its title is a mine of information for the industrial archaeologist working in the county.

Besides dealing with the new model farming of the Agricultural Revolution at Sheffield and Pet-worth Parks, there are sections on roads, canals, iron, charcoal, gypsum, potash, bricks, lime kilns and even workhouses. We learn of the Earl of Ashburnham's extensive lime mine in Dallington Forest, worked on colliery principles. Here was a shaft some 80 feet deep with radiating galleries, the winding mechanism provided by a horse gin. It is clear that this is one of the most important of the 18th and 19th century indus-trial sites in Sussex. Young also makes reference to the government charcoal manufactory at Northchapel, at which reduction was made in iron cylinders, rather than the usual open kilns. This supplied the gun-powder works at Faversham and Waltham. Nearby, on the Petworth Estate, was erected a palatial piggery (illustrated) by Lord Egremont to test his new theories on animal-rearing. These are just some of the tantalizing references that can be gleaned from Young's Report, clues which it is our responsibility to investigate and record.
Kim Leslie

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN HAMPSHIRE: SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS 
J.. Reynolds, C. Burrell & D. Bignall, "Durngate Mill, Winchester". 10pp., 2s. 6d. Edwin Course, "The Itchen Navigation". 14pp., 3s.
A. T. Lloyd, "The Salterns of the Lymington Area". 17pp., 5s 6d.
Offprints from the Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, vol. XXIV for 1967.
C. M. Ellis, "A gazetteer of the Water, Wind and Tide Mills of Hampshire". 20pp., 5s 6d. Offprint from vol. XXV for 1968. Available from the Assistant Secretary, HFC & AS, c/o Department of Archaeology, The University, Southampton, S09 5NH.
L.T.C. Rolt, Waterloo Ironworks (Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1969.) 240pp., 42s.

The gazetteer of Hampshire mills is a notable achievement - and a sharp reminder of the amount of work which awaits the industrial archaeologist. By recording any mill of which there were significant remains in the Spring of 1969 - the extremes being complete mills and those of which only the mill pond survives - the Southampton University IA. Group and helpers from other societies have collected a tally of 165 water and tide mills, of which a mere 14 were still working. The entries are necessarily brief, that for Durngate Mill reading: "Was a flour mill, now demolished. Pit wheel and stones left in position. Mill House is occupied". Before demolition, however, this mill was fully recorded by the Winchester Model and Engineering Society. Its fabric being of the late 18th century, it was "a typical example of the final development of the tradition-al English water mill". Much of the equipment shown in the excellent measured drawings was of local manufacture: the gearing in the late 19th. century at the City Foundry, Winchester, and the turbine by Armfields of Ringwood. The employment of turbines in Hampshire is carried further by D. A. E. Cross, "Hydro Electricity from the Salisbury Avon", Wiltshire Indistrial Archaeology,] (1969), and suggests work which might be done in Sussex, given the Group's interest in Batemans Mill.

The Itchen Navigation was, in its chronology, similar to other southern river navigations, being authorised by Act of Parliament in 1665 and used commercially for the last time in 1869, though untypical as the bridges over the river required sea-going vessels to tranship their cargoes into barges at Southampton for carriage to Winchester. Dr. Course makes the best of rather meagre sources. The visible remains of the Navigation are described in some detail.

It is heartening that an old-established county archaeological journal should devote so much space to - in its widest sense - industrial history. High standards of production are assured: and industrial archaeology is properly recognised as another, if new, technique for the study of the local environment in the past.

If the dust jacket blurb claims too much ("It is, in microcosm, the story of the Industrial Revolution in the southern agricultural counties of England"), Mr. Rolt's history of Taskers of Andover, 1809-1968, is nevertheless important, as the first account of an agricultural machinery manufacturer. The firm is best known for its traction engines of 1869 to 1925, and the book must have a special attraction for the devotee of steam engines. This account, perhaps necessarily anecdotal, does not attempt to assess the importance of the firm as a factor in agricultural improvement, though the list of the purchasers of "early type agricultural traction engines" suggests that the market was in considerable degree regional and that it might be possible to study the diffusion of the "new technology" among the farmers of Hampshire, Wilt-shire and Dorset.
John Farrant

`TRANSPORT IN SUSSEX SINCE 1750'
An average of twenty one people attended the six meetings held in association with the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sussex between October and January. The programme ran as published in the last Newsletter , with John Farrant introducing the last meeting. The discussion which followed the talks was usually protracted and produced some useful exchanges of information.

There was general support for a further series next winter, the consensus of opinion favouring meetings of the same sort, but with more speakers from within the group, rather from outside, especially as the supply of outside speakers was strictly limited. The general wish was also to concentrate even more narrowly, or at least to move on from panoramic surveys.

The continuance of the meetings thus depends on the willingness of this year's participants, or of newcomers who want to join in, to give talks. So I will be very glad to receive any offers.
Arts Building, The University, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QN. John Farrant

 

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