Railways gather steam
Already the rival railway network was in embryo form on the coalfields. Wagonways were used above and below ground where open wagons powered by human, horse, or gravity, moved the coal along wooden rails. It was but a short step to steam-powered locomotives moving coal along iron rails and no coincidence that George Stephenson began his career in the mines of Tyneside.
'... the Industrial Revolution ... left few lives and few institutions unaltered.'
Industrialisation was such a wide-ranging phenomenon, involving every aspect of the economy and society, that there will always be scope for debate about its timing and speed, causes and consequences. The roots of change ran deep into the past, but from the final quarter of the 18th century industrialisation gathered pace.
At first slow and patchy in its progress, by the time Victoria came to the throne in 1837, the Industrial Revolution had left few lives and few institutions unaltered.
About the author
Dr Christine MacLeod is Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Bristol, specialising in the history of Western technology. She is the author of Inventing the Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press.
Published: 2004-11-02
