Sunday morning and the towpath of the Regent’s Canal was a hectic place to be. Joggers – headphones plugged in and sweating from the heat of the sun – and cyclists fought for their share of the narrow space between the water’s edge and towering brick-built buildings. Things […]
Peter Beuth, a German visitor to Manchester in 1823, wrote of a place where “machinery and buildings can be found commensurate with the miracles of modern times – they are called factories.” Clearly not believing his friend would be familiar with this new type of workplace he felt […]
“I shall never forget Mr Boulton’s expression to me: ‘I sell here Sir, what all the world desires to have – POWER’,” wrote James Boswell of his visit to Soho Manufactory. Just a few miles from the centre of modern Birmingham, the diarist and author had come in […]
William Blake’s reference to ‘dark satanic mills’ in his Jerusalem poem, conjures up negative connotations of the industrial revolution and the impact it had on the lives of ordinary people. Workers toiled away for long hours in dirty factories, with little time for leisure, contemporary commentators suggested. Machines […]
On the tow path of the Cromford Canal it’s possible to escape the hustle and bustle of busy city life. Visiting on a sunny weekday afternoon out of school holidays I barely saw another person as I walked along this wonderful stretch of water in Derbyshire. Along the […]
People from Bristol have contributed a lot to the world over the years. Bristolians played a large part in manufacturing Concorde, they created plasticine and invented the blanket. And of course John Cabot sailed from Bristol and re-discovered North America in 1497. But perhaps a lesser known fact […]
Past In The Present 