Anthony Burton – författare

Britain's landscape is rich with buildings and relics of the working lives of earlier generations. Organized by region, with inset maps and rich color photographs, Guide to Britain's Working Past provides visitors with excellent information on all the significant sites of Britain's industrial heritage, including travel, cost of admission, and hours of access.Among the sites documented here are industrial, railway, and canal museums; factories and mills; coal mines, pottery factories, engines and engine houses; windmills and watermills; foundries and forges; canal locks and lifts; and unique curiosities such as the stone tramway at Haytor on Dartmoor or the Lace Museum in Nottingham. With features on major regional specialties including the tin mines and steam engines of Cornwall, the windmills of Norfolk and the Fens, and the North Wales slate quarries, Guide to Britain's Working Past pays tribute to Britain's long and fascinating history of technological development. Color illustrations throughout.

The eighteenth century saw the second Iron Age. Practically everything was made of iron: the machines of the Industrial Revolution; bridges and the ships that went under them; the trains running on their rails; and the frames of the first skyscrapers. But progress was bought at a price and the working classes paid it. The knife grinders of Sheffield were lucky to reach their 30th birthday before their ruined lungs gave up, women chain makers were described as ‘The White Slaves of England’ and, in a time before health and safety regulations, each advance in technology risked a new kind of deadly accident. Tracking both the brilliant innovation of the period and the hardship and struggle that powered it, this is the story of how iron changed the world.

Competition from rail and later road forced many canals into closure, and a large section of the old system seemed doomed to crumble away into terminal decay. Then came a new industry: the canal leisure industry, and with it the birth of the restoration movement. This final volume in the Anatomy of Canals series looks at what has been achieved and how the new compares with the old. Cities such as Brimingham have now been won over and have made the old canals part of a lively rejuvenation programme, while a new generation of engineers has produced such marvels as the Falkirk Wheel.

When a young English nobleman was thwarted in love he abandoned the court, retired to his estate near Manchester and built a canal to serve his coalmines. The Bridgewater Canal was the sensation of the age and led others to follow the example of the enterprising Duke of Bridgewater. From his starting point in 1760, over the next half-century Britain was covered by a network of waterways that became the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution. This is the story of 250 years of history on those canals, and of the people who made and used them. The book tells of the great engineers, such as Telford, Brindley and Jessop and of the industrialists, such as Wedgwood and Arkwright who promoted the canals they built. It also tells the story of the anonymous navvies who dug the canals, the men and women who ran the boats and the workers who kept the canals running. Covering the entire history of the canal network (from the glorious early days, through the years of decline caused by rail and then road competition, up to the subsequent revival of the canals as leisure routes), this wonderfully illustrated book is a must-have for all canal enthusiasts.

This is the story of the men who built Britain’s canals and railways – not the engineers and the administrators but the ones who provided the brawn and muscle. There had never been a workforce like the navvies, a great army of men, moving about the country following the work as it became available. This book will tell of their extraordinary feats of strength and their often colourful lives. They lived rough, usually having to make do with huts and shelters cobbled together from whatever materials were available. They worked hard and drank hard. Often exploited by their employers, they were always liable to erupt into riots that could have fatal results. The book will look at who these men were, where they came from – and destroy the myth that they were all Irish. It is a story full of drama, but above all one of great achievements.

Mining is Britain’s oldest industry, and this book follows the men and, in the past, women who spent their lives working underground. Since the New Stone Age various minerals have been wrested from British soil – copper, tin, gold, lead – but in later periods the key commodity was coal. Those who worked in the mines were constantly battling on two fronts: there was the continual danger of flood and explosion; and the often bitter struggles against the mine owners. This story is also one of invention and innovation, looking particularly at how the independent miners of Cornwall and Devon were at the forefront of the development of the steam engine that was to transform society. This, the second book in an exciting new series looking at Britain’s most dangerous industries, is a tale of blood, sweat and death among a courageous and close-knit community that has now all but passed into history.

From modest beginnings, Britain rose throughout the nineteenth century to become the greatest shipbuilding nation in the world, yet by the end of the following century the British merchant fleet ranked just 38 in the world. The glory days of sail had given way to the introduction of the steam age. Traditional shipwrights had railed against new industrial methods resulting in the infamous demarcation disputes. Talented men, like Brunel and Armstrong, had always sought change and development, but too many shipbuilders were relying on old technologies. From building mighty battleships and extravagant ocean liners, the nation became complacent and its yards were eventually no longer as innovative as their foreign competitors. In the twenty-first century, British shipbuilding has shrunk to a mere fraction of its former size and has become almost totally dependent on government contracts. The popularity of and fascination with this subject has prompted a new edition of Anthony Burton’s successful book. With fresh images and a new, final chapter, the story of the rise and cataclysmic fall of British shipbuilding has been brought right up to date.

The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw the development of the steam locomotive in Britain from a comparatively simple machine to a powerful main line express capable of speeds of a hundred miles an hour. The book starts with an introduction dealing with the main lines of development in the north of Britain and that is followed by a picture section with over a hundred photographs. Each illustration has an extended caption giving details of the engine and its history. The material is arranged geographically, with sections dealing with the north of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and a separate section on light railways. The photographs are all of the locomotives in their working days, many showing them in action on both passenger and goods trains. This splendid collection shows the rich diversity of Britain’s railways and how different companies and their engineers produced engines of great individuality. This is a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of the golden age of steam railways.

This book celebrates the bicentenary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway by looking, not at locomotives, but at the rolling stock behind them, both passenger vehicles and goods wagons. 1825 saw the first train load of passengers hauled by a steam locomotive, but it was an experience not to be immediately repeated, as the Stockton & Darlington passenger service after the opening ceremony was by a horse-drawn stage coach. It was not long, however, before steam took over on other lines. At first, travel was basic – the first class had closed carriages, second class open carriages with a canopy for cover, while the third class were little more than goods wagons with seats. The book traces the development of carriages over the years with increasing levels of comfort – taking the story right up to the present day. There are sections on the special trains, the most glamorous side of travel, as well as the familiar everyday coaches. It also looks as the experience of train travel over the years, including a section on accidents. Freight movement has also changed with the times, from the days when trains were made up of loose-coupled wagons to the container trains of today. There is a last look at the railway past and the preserved railways that recreate the age of steam.

Canal Builders is a classic history book for anyone interested in the development of Britains canal system. The book, which was first published in the 1970s, is now republished here in a new fifth edition. It takes the reader from the middle of the eighteenth century, to the start of the railway age in the early nineteenth century.Anthony Burton has revised and improved the original text, using new material that he has found in archives since it was first published, and has added many extra illustrations.This is the remarkable story of the many groups of people who were responsible for building Britains canal system. There were industrialists, such as Josiah Wedgwood, who promoted canals to help his own industry, and speculators, who financed the projects in the hope of a good return. The work was planned by engineers, some of whom, such as James Brindley and Thomas Telford, have become famous, while others have remained virtually unknown but still did magnificent work. This is also the story of the great, anonymous army of men who actually did the work the navvies.This was the first book ever to study the lives of these labourers in detail. Altogether it is an epic story of how the transport route that made the industrial revolution possible was built.'Well planned and well written There is no better introduction to the early canal age.' The Economist

Thomas Telford's life was extraordinary: born in the Lowlands of Scotland, where his father worked as a shepherd, he ended his days as the most revered engineer in the world, known punningly as The Colossus of Roads. He was responsible for some of the great works of the age, such as the suspension bridge across the Menai Straits and the mighty Pontcysyllte aqueduct. He built some of the best roads seen in Britain since the days of the Romans and constructed the great Caledonian Canal, designed to take ships across Scotland from coast to coast. He did as much as anyone to turn engineering into a profession and was the first President of the newly formed Institution of Civil Engineers. All this was achieved by a man who started work as a boy apprentice to a stonemason. He was always intensely proud of his homeland and was to be in charge of an immense programme of reconstruction for the Highlands that included building everything from roads to harbours and even designing churches. He was unquestionably one of Britains finest engineers, able to take his place alongside giants such as Brunel. He was also a man of culture, even though he had only a rudimentary education. As a mason in his early days he had worked alongside some of the greatest architects of the day, such as William Chambers and Robert Adams, and when he was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire early in his career, he had the opportunity to practice those skills himself, designing two imposing churches in the county and overseeing the renovation of Shrewsbury Castle. Even as a boy, he had developed a love of literature and throughout his life wrote poetry and became a close friend of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. He was a man of many talents, who rose to the very top of his profession but never forgot his roots: he kept his old masons tools with him to the end of his days. There are few official monuments to this great man, but he has no need of them: the true monuments are the structures that he left behind that speak of a man who brought about a revolution in transport and civil engineering.

The book looks at rail travel from the passenger’s point of view, beginning when a coach drawn by horses, rumbled down the newly laid tracks linking Swansea to Mumbles in 1807 and takes the reader right up to the present day. It was not long after that first service opened in Wales that the first steam passenger trains began to operate. The story broadens out from the first inter-city line connecting Liverpool to Manchester to spread first around Britain and eventually spread across the world. The book paints vivid pictures of how travel seemed to passengers in different countries, drawing on many first-hand accounts. The early days offered little in comfort – third class passengers had to make do with carriages that were simply open trucks. Gradually conditions improved and eventually there was an age of luxury travel epitomised by the famous Orient Express. Every aspect of rail travel is looked at, from tragic tales of fatal accidents to the role of railway travel in films and books. This lively account of the pioneering days and what many regard as the golden age of rail travel will be welcomed by anyone who enjoys taking the train.

The story of wool covers 4,000 years of human history – the first written record of dying wool for cloth was found on a Mesopotamian papyrus c. 2000 BCE. In this book, the whole story is told, from the rearing of the different animals that provide the raw material to its transformation into woven cloth and knitted material. Much of the emphasis is on Britain, where, in the Middle Ages, wool was the basis for much of the country’s prosperity, as can still be seen in the magnificent opulence of the churches endowed by the wool merchants. It deals with the different techniques used for spinning, weaving and finishing cloth. The eighteenth century saw great changes, as production moved from cottage to mill and the mill towns grew. But this is also an international story, looking at a variety of different topics, from the work of Incan and Mayan people in South America to the development of the flocks of Australia. But, this is not just about technology – it is also about how that technology has an impact on the lives of people, from th life of the shepherd to the industrial disputes that broke into the violence of the Luddite rebellions.

There has always been a romance around ocean liners, but this book looks behind the romance to show the reality of travelling the oceans of the world. The book starts with the first scheduled transatlantic crossings in the age of sail, then moves on through the development of the steamers and ends in the present day, when ocean liners have given way to airliners. All aspects of the subject are discussed. The experience of travelling by sea varied enormously from the luxury of first-class travel to the often brutal conditions endured by immigrants. Ship design developed in the race between competing companies to provide the most powerful ships. But while technology came into the fundamental design, when it came to décor, for many of the great liners the interiors looked back with a romanticised view of the past. It is not always realised that a great liner might have almost as many crew as passengers, and this looks at all those who kept the ships running, from the black gang in the engine room to the captain on the bridge. The result is a rounded view of what it meant to travel on some of the greatest ships ever built.

The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw the development of the steam locomotive in Britain from a comparatively simple machine to a powerful main line express capable of speeds of a hundred miles an hour. The book starts with an introduction dealing with the main line of development and that is followed by a picture section with over 190 photographs. Each illustration has an extended caption giving details of the engine and its history. The material is arranged geographically, starting with the railways of southern England and ending with Irish railways. The Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man are also included, and there is a section on English light railway. The photographs are all of the locomotives in their working days, many showing them in action on both passenger and goods trains. This splendid collection shows the rich diversity of Britain’s railways and how different companies and their engineers produced engines of great individuality. This is a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of the golden age of steam railways.

This is the story of how for more than a hundred years steam power played a vital role in the development of road transport. It all began with tentative attempts to build steam carriages by pioneers such as Cugnot in France and Trevithick in Britain, and in the early part of the nineteenth century there were significant attempts to develop steam carriages and omnibuses. That these attempts ultimately failed was largely due to opposition by road authorities and draconian legislation. Steam power did, however, find a real purpose in agriculture, where the traction engine was used for a variety of tasks from towing and working threshing machines, to ploughing. Once the value of the traction engine had been established, it soon found a use in many parts of the world for heavy haulage work and appeared in an exotic guise as the showman's engine. The latter was not only used to haul rides to fairgrounds but also powered a dynamo that could light up the fair at night. By the end of the nineteenth century, steam on the road took on a new life with the development of steam cars and trucks. For a time they vied the new internal combustion engine for supremacy on the road. The American Doble Company even developed a 100mph steam sports car. Ultimately steam lost the war, but steam vehicles survive and delight us still thanks to enthusiastic owners and restorers.

Transport systems are the lifeblood of all great cities and this is certainly true of London. As far back as Roman times, their city Londinium was the hub of a network of roads leading out to all the major centres of the time. It was the Romans who gave the city its first bridge across the Thames and its first paved roadways. This book tells the story of London's roads and bridges and the vehicles that used them. For centuries, transport meant horse drawn vehicles, from lumbering waggons to elegant carriages and the city had a flourishing industry, building carriages. The Industrial Revolution brought major changes, not least in the construction of more and more bridges over the Thames. In the 19th century a new system appeared with the arrival of the railways, and the many stations that are such prominent features of the cityscape. The story continues into the 20th century, when, for a time, the city was also home to some pioneering motor car manufacturers, such as Vauxhall. It comes nearer our time with the construction of the underground railway and the driverless trains of the Dockland Light Railway. Londoners will have a chance to find out just how travel around the city has changed in the last two thousand years.

The book looks at London's maritime history from the establishment of Roman Londinium to the present day. It discusses many different aspects of life on the Thames and its connecting waterways and canals. There was a time when the River Thames was the main highway for the city, when watermen plied their trade carrying passengers and goods in a wide variety of craft, ranging from rowing boats to sailing barges. The Thames was also, for many centuries, a major ship building centre, and the story includes the construction of some iconic vessels from Henry VIII's flagship Henri Grace a Dieu to Isambard Brunel's great steamship the SS Great Eastern. London was also until recently the country's most important port. In the days of sail, the Port of London was crowded with vessels and it was not until the nineteenth century that major enclosed docks were built, a process that continued into the early years of the twentieth century. The early nineteenth century also saw London connected to the rest of England through a network of canals. Other topics covered include the lifeboat service, river fire fighting forces and the river police. The result is a colourful pageant that highlights the vital role that London's waterways played in the life of the capital.

Crafted in Britain is a celebration of Britain’s traditional crafts and industries that have survived into the modern world, not as museums but on their merits. In an age of increasing automation and standardisation, it is a joy to find such places, where craftsmanship and personal skills are still valued. Their world is recreated in Rob Scott’s dramatic photographs, while the processes and history of the different industries is described in the captivating text by Anthony Burton. They have travelled the country from the Spey valley in Scotland, where they recorded the workers in a traditional distillery and a cooperage, to Cornwall and the studio of a specialist pub sign painter. They have gone underground with a Free Miner of the Forest of Dean and seen molten metal being poured to create majestic church bells. The book delights in the variety and individuality of the different industries. For both author and photographer it has been a revelation to see some of these processes at work: to watch a craftsman take a strip of silver and work it by hand into a spoon, or to find clocks being made in a workshop that looks as if it has scarcely changed for a hundred years. Crafted in Britain gives you the opportunity to share these experiences and delight in the discovery of these magnificent survivors.

Britain's Canals is a charming and insightful exploration into the amazing architecture and engineering wonders that surround Britain’s inland waterways – from the awe-inspiring 30-lock flight on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, to the delightful chocolate-box lock-keepers’ cottages that line the cut of every canal, to masterpieces such as the 18-arch Pontcysyllte aqueduct, the highest aqueduct in the world, to beautiful bridges, grand company buildings, the social hubs that were, and still are, canal-side pubs, plus so much more. In contrast to many inland waterways books which are organised geographically by canal, Britain's Canals is structured thematically, with chapters covering the line (the shape of the canal), locks and lock cottages, bridges, aqueducts, lifts and planes, company buildings, wharves, basins and quays and finally the canal-side pub. Each chapter explores how these features were created and have changed through history, right through to the present, with plenty of ideas for places to visit – plus full information on how to get to them. An abundance of full-colour photography throughout, both historical and modern-day, will delight readers and inspire them to explore Britain’s wondrous inland waterways, whether on boat, by foot or by bike. In Britain's Canals, two inland waterways experts and admired authors come together to produce the definitive word on the man-made wonders that make Britain’s canals so special, so loved and enjoyed by so many.

This book tells the often dramatic and always fascinating story of flight in lighter than air machines. For centuries man had dreamed of flying, but all attempts failed, until in 1782 the Montgolfier brothers constructed the world's first hot air balloon The following year saw the first ascent with aeronauts - not human beings but a sheep, a duck and a cockerel. But it was not long before men and women too took to the air and became ever more adventurous. The aeronauts became famous giving displays before crowds of thousands, often accompanied by special effects.In the early years, ballooning was a popular pastime, but in the 19th century it found a new use with the military. Balloons were used to send messages out during the Siege of Paris and later found a role as observation balloons for the artillery. But their use was always limited by the fact that they were at the mercy of the wind. There were numerous attempts at steering balloons, and various attempts were made to power them but it was the arrival of the internal combustion engine that saw the balloon transformed into the airship. The most famous developer of airships was Graf von Zeppelin and the book tells the story of the use of his airships in both peacetime and at war. There were epic adventures including flights over the poles and for a time, commercial airships flourished - then came the disaster of the Hindenburg. Airships still fly today and ballooning has become a hugely popular pastime.

This is a new biography of two great British engineering pioneers, who did much to develop the world we now live in.George and Robert Stephenson, were at the forefront of early railways and were at the cutting edge of modern engineering history.Industrial historian Anthony Burton looks into these two giants of the late Georgian and early Victorian age, who were responsible for the development of much of the early railway map in both Britain and other parts of the world.The work examines the lives of the two men and their ability to overcome some of the most pressing engineering problems of their time.This is a new work, with newly researched material published here for the first time, which take a fresh look at both pioneering engineers and their achievements.

Wedgwood was born in the Staffordshire Potteries in 1739 and lived in the area all his life. His family were all potters, working in traditional ways, but Josiah was to revolutionise the industry. When he started work, the local ware was either rather rustic, or made to look a little more sophisticated by the addition of heavy glazes. He worked to produce a lighter coloured body and to use designs made to appeal to aristocratic tastes, convinced that where they led the rapidly growing middle class would follow. The result was cream ware which, when a whole service was ordered by the royal family, was soon christened queens ware.He needed to import new materials - flint from East Anglia, light clays from the West Country, so he became an ardent promoter of the Trent and Mersey Canal, and built a new factory and family home on its banks, naming the area Etruria In the new works, he abandoned the old systems where individual craftsmen produced whole pieces for an early form of mass production. From these works came the ceramics that are still world famous, such as the distinctive jasper ware.He had many outside interests and was one of the earliest supporters of the ant-slavery movement. He studied science and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work on high temperature thermometers. He was a loving family man and an enthusiastic correspondent, and his many letters reveal a character that was attractive, enthusiastic and always eager to learn, He died in 1795.

Over a thousand years ago the Chinese discovered that the slender filaments that formed the cocoon of the silk moth, could be woven into beautiful shimmering fabrics.For centuries they were able to keep the process a secret, but eventually started to trade the valuable cloth with the west, along the silk road.Silk was a luxury item that bestowed prestige, so it was inevitable that the wealthy wanted their silks to be as elaborate as possible, beautiful designs were produced in the Islamic world and gradually a European industry developed.In the 19th century mechanisation of the time consuming hand weaving process, had resulted in products being produced using the Jacquard loom, which used punched cards to create a pattern.Silk remains the most beautiful woven material in the world, moving from its origins in ancient China to help transform the whole world.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel has always been regarded as one of Britain's great heroes and an engineering genius. His father Marc Brunel has not received the same degree of adulation, but this book will show just how important a part Marc played in his son's works and will also look at his own great achievements. Marc Brunel arrived in Britain as a refugee from revolutionary France, after a short time working in America. He was a pioneer of mass production technology, when he invented machines for making blocks for sailing ships. He had other inventions to his name, but his greatest achievement was in constructing the very first tunnel under the Thames. Isambard spent his early years working for and with is father, who not only encouraged him but throughout his career he was also able to offer practical help. The famous viaduct that carried the Great Western Railway over the Thames at Maidenhead, for example was based on an earlier design of Marc's. Isambard's greatest achievements were in revolutionising the shipping industry, where hew as able to draw on his father's experience when he served n the navy. The book not only looks at the successes of two great engineers, but also their failures. Primarily, however, it is a celebration of two extraordinary mean and their amazing achievements.

Following the limestone escarpment on the Western edge of the Cotswolds, the 102 miles of the Cotswold Way take the walker through a quintessentially English landscape as varied as it is beautiful.Starting and finishing among the golden Cotswold stone of Chipping Camden and Bath, and affording stunning prospects of the Malvern Hills, the Forest of Dean and even the Black Mountains in Wales, it winds through rolling farmland, magnificent beech woodlands, and up over the austerely beautiful Cleeve Hill with its panoramic views out over Cheltenham and far beyond. With a wealth of historic interest, from Neolithic burial mounds to Roman villas and country houses, this is genuinely a walk through the heart of England.