INTRODUCTION

England is the birthplace of industrialisation. Almost all English landscapes can be said to be industrial landscapes, in that they have been shaped by the forces of industrialisation. Sometimes these forces have been very direct and are highly visible: as in the declining industrial conurbations of the West Midlands, or the former textile towns of West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Elsewhere, temporally more distant industrial activity has been softened by later land use: the gentle undulations of Derbyshire lead mining, the heavily wooded Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, or the almost suburban former ironworking landscapes of Surrey. Even in the apparent rural idyll of the post-medieval country estate it is possible to find steam-powered corn-mills and pump houses and electrical power stations. Indeed, the quintessential English farming landscape, withits quilt-like pattern of small fields and woodland, is a resource that was harnessed in a systematic way to provide food and other materials for the growthof English industrialisation in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Three main issues can be examined in relation to the industrial landscapes of England. Firstly, notwithstanding the fact that almost all industrial landscapes owe their underlying structure to topographical and geological factors, it is also the case that the flesh on these natural bones is the result of human agency. The extent and impact of this human agency is often overlooked, particularly, as Marilyn Palmer has recently reminded us, in rural and upland landscapes.