At Work – serie

Wrexham is the largest town in North Wales and since 1996 has been the centre of the county borough. There is evidence of settlement and industry in the county borough since before Roman times. Significant later development took place in the fourteenth century with the growth of a small town and establishment of a market. The county borough has a rich heritage of industry, including coal and lead mining, iron and steel production, and brick and tile making, which developed in the Industrial Revolution. Wrexham town’s main industries in the past were brewing and leatherwork, but today it is an administrative, commercial and educational centre.Wrexham at Work explores the county borough’s industrial heritage and the working life of its people from its preindustrial beginnings to the present day. The author examines how the massive changes in the patterns of work have affected the area. During the late eighteenth century much of the county borough was heavily industrialised. In the last century Wrexham entered the post-heavy industrial world and the author looks at how the county borough adapted to these changes. Illustrated throughout, with colour and archive material, this book will appeal to local people and those interested in the industrial heritage of North Wales.

Farnham in Surrey, with its Norman castle and lying on a major route, was an important market town in the Middle Ages. The town’s prosperity was also based on its proximity to Winchester and its trade in wheat, wool and pottery. Wool was also woven and fulled in Farnham. A large-scale brickworks used the ample supply of clay in the town. As the wheat market declined in the eighteenth century, hop growing took over and wealth generated led to the building of the Georgian streets that are still a feature of Farnham today. Farming and basket weaving with local willow continued to provide a living for many working on the land around Farnham, but the coming of the railways in the nineteenth century brought more people and new trades into the town, and some of the shops opened at that time still exist today. Farnham was home to early motor car manufacturing and also developed as a craft centre. The town is now a popular centre for visitors and has provided the location for a number of feature films in recent years.Farnham at Work explores the working life of this town in Surrey and its people and the trades, businesses and industries that have characterised it through the ages. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Farnham.

Coventry has been a major centre of trade and industry since the Middle Ages. Medieval Coventry was known for making tiles, cloth, buckles, statues and stained glass. Other textile industries followed, the dyeing of cloth with the famous Coventry true blue and silk-weaving. Much later, in the twentieth century, Coventry became a pioneer of synthetic fibre manufacturing. Clock-making grew from the sixteenth century, and later watch-making – Dickens carried his Coventry watch until he died – and in the nineteenth century Coventry also became known for bike manufacture. This also led to Coventry becoming the hub of car manufacturing in the twentieth century. It was Coventry’s expertise in this area, as well as aircraft, military vehicles and armaments, that led to it being targeted by enemy bombing in the Second World War.Coventry at Work explores the working life of this city in the East Midlands and its people and the industries that have characterised it through the ages. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Coventry.

The market and university town of Loughborough has a long, varied and often unexpected history. In the medieval period many people worked the land or provided services necessary for everyday life, such as blacksmithing, millwrighting and stonemasonry. The town’s prosperity was due to its sustained involvement in the woollen industry, while later locals were hugely influential in the Agricultural Revolution. However, the Industrial Revolution changed the landscape, providing new and different employment through the canals and railways as well as large hosiery factories. New industries came to Loughborough, such as bell founding, locomotive manufacturing and electrical generators, and the town’s female munitions workers played an important role during the First World War. In recent decades the town has moved away from manufacturing to retail and education, though the Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult to predict how work will look here in the future.Loughborough at Work explores the working life of this town in Leicestershire and its people and the trades, businesses and industries that have characterised it through the ages. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Leicestershire.

Brighton was a relatively small town on the South Coast of England until its transformation as a resort in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Fashionable visitors led to the development of hotels and new housing and the population grew rapidly. The arrival of the railways brought more visitors, as well as a large locomotive engineering works, and the town became known as a major commercial centre. Neighbouring Hove, originally a fishing village, grew alongside its larger neighbour and today the city of Brighton and Hove is one of the largest conurbations in the south of England.Brighton at Work explores the working life of this city on the South Coast of England and its people and the industries that have characterised it through the ages. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Brighton.

The London Borough of Newham was created in 1965 by the merger of the County Borough Councils of East Ham and West Ham. At first, industry was concentrated on the banks of the River Lea (or Lee). The coming of the railways coupled with the rise of new technologies in the Victorian era, and legislation prohibiting many of the smellier and noisier industries from operating within London, led to the rapid growth of industry and population within Newham from the 1840s onwards. The area grew rich from industry, with famous names such as Tate & Lyle and Trebor Sweets, railway engineering at Stratford and the docks. Marshland south of Plaistow and East Ham was drained to create the docks and the industrial areas of Canning Town and Silvertown, the latter named after a local entrepreneur. Much of this industry fell into decline from the late twentieth century. When the docks closed in 1981 and relocated to Tilbury, the London Docklands Development Corporation was set up to regenerate the Docklands area with London City Airport and a new University of East London campus taking their place, and retail became the major employer in the area. Following hosting the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic Park area of Stratford has since been redeveloped with new cultural and educational facilities.Newham at Work explores the working life of this borough in London and its people and the industries that have characterised it through the years. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Newham.

The town of Northwich in Cheshire has been known for its salt production for centuries. The salt mines beneath the town were exploited by the Romans through to the modern era and in the vast excavations have caused major subsidence in Northwich. By the nineteenth century Northwich was also a centre of the chemical industry in the northwest of England. Brunner Mond started the production of soda ash in 1874 at Winnington and the company later became ICI, building a huge industrial railway network in the area and growing into one of the largest manufacturers in the UK. Among the other industries in Northwich were steel works and shipyards. W.J. Yarwoods & Sons Ltd built over 1,000 vessels including small warships, one under the direction of Lawrence of Arabia, and Isaac Pimblott & Sons also built small craft including canal vessels, both closing in the 1960s/1970s. The town also had steel works and many other industries.Northwich and Around at Work explores the working life of this town and surrounding area in Cheshire and its people and the industries that have characterised it through the ages. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Northwich.

A pictorial history of the working life of Letchworth Garden City over the last century and more.

Faversham has always been a hard-working town. Its very name, which was derived from Latin and Old English, means ‘the metal workers’ village’, and in Saxon times the area was a centre for the manufacture of jewellery. Its town market has been in continuous use for over 900 years and when King Steven established a huge abbey here it became, for a while, capital of the kingdom. With a navigable creek leading to the Swale seaway, fishermen have always plied their trade here; in fact the Faversham Oyster Fisheries Co. is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as being the oldest. Shepherd Neame’s Brewery, which was established here, also claims to be Britain’s oldest, and many surrounding farms supply the essential raw material: hops. Faversham is best known, though, for its explosives industry, which has been based here since the seventeenth century. Faversham gunpowder blasted through rocks and tunnels to allow faster growth of the railways. They also aided extraction of vital ores and minerals from mines. An increase in demand led to enlarged works at two different sites until an accidental explosion in 1916 brought about decline.Faversham at Work explores the working life of this charming Kent market town nestled in the heart of the ‘Garden of England’. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, it looks at the rise and fall of the explosives industry, the town’s long association with shipbuilding, the influence of brick making during the Victorian era and the continuing importance of fruit growing on the local economy.

Farming has always been synonymous with this part of England. The Benedictine abbey owned and controlled the town for over 500 years and the employment of the townspeople was centred around provisioning this huge religious house. As time went by, Bury went on to thrive as a wool town until the eighteenth century saw a downturn in the wool trade with resulting unemployment. The mid-nineteenth century saw a slow move towards industrialisation in the town though trades had always flourished. New industries arrived, such as the Greene King brewery, Bobys Engineering, the Cornish and Lloyd Foundry and then, of course, the sugar beet factory.Bury St Edmunds at Work explores the life of this Suffolk town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations it looks at the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on the town, the consequences of rapid urbanisation, the changes in the industrial landscape during the Victorian era, the impact of war, and the post-war population explosion with the arrival of the London overspill in the 1960s, which also brought new jobs and new hopes. This book shows how the town has evolved to become not only an important tourist destination but a very desirable place to live and work.

In the early nineteenth century Barrow-in-Furness was a small village of 200 people, but within forty years its population had risen to almost 50,000. It became a hive of Victorian enterprise and industry and gained an almost frontier reputation, coining the nickname ‘the Chicago of the North’. The discovery of iron ore and subsequent opening of the Furness Railway led to the development and growth of shipbuilding for which Barrow is famous. This growth accelerated until the First World War, but the iron and steel industry had started to flag after the Second World War, leaving the Vickers shipyard as the town’s main employer, though the end of the Cold War would in turn lead to defence spending cuts and job losses, the shipyard later rallying with Trident. Barrow as a post-industrial town has had to show innovation and the will to adapt and change.Barrow-in-Furness at Work explores the life of this Cumbrian town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, it looks at the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on the population and the consequences of rapid urbanisation, the changes in the industrial landscape during the Victorian era, the devastating impact of war, the postwar decline of its traditional industries and the town’s twenty-first-century reinvention as a hub of sustainable energy generation.

Edinburgh has always been different. It was affected less than most other cities in Britain by the Industrial Revolution, remaining essentially professional rather than industrial, while enjoying a reputation as a hub of intellectual thought during the Scottish Enlightenment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Adam Smith, David Hume, James Hutton and John Playfair are only a few of the many eminent thinkers associated with the city. It was also during this period that the city began to spread beyond the confines of the cramped Old Town tenements, extending northwards with the building of the Georgian New Town, and eventually swallowing up many smaller surrounding settlements, including the port of Leith.Edinburgh at Work explores the working life of this great city, from humble beginnings to its current status as the UK’s second financial centre after London and the fourth largest in Europe. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations it looks at the consequences of rapid urbanisation, the rise in the city’s economic fortunes through the nineteenth century, the growth of tourism from the postwar period and the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Along the way it explores the development of Scotland’s capital from relative obscurity to international renown as home to the world’s largest arts festival and the strongest economy of any city in the UK outside London.

St Andrews is famous the world over as being the home of golf but although golf clubs are still designed and manufactured here, there’s a lot more to the town than drivers and putters. The university, the third oldest in the English-speaking world, was founded in 1413 as a seat of religious learning and has grown to be a major local employer and world-renowned centre of excellence for research and teaching. The town used to be home to numerous breweries, and although these all closed down following a period of decline after the Reformation, the industry has been revived with the St Andrews Brewing Co., which now brews a number of local ales that are served in the many pubs and restaurants. Tourism is the largest employment sector in the town and people travel from all over the world not only to play on the famous local courses or to watch competitions, but also to experience its rich and often bloody religious past.St Andrews at Work explores the life of this Fife town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day in a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, that show how the town has continued to grow throughout the years.

Workington has long been a producer of coal and steel. The huge Cumbrian iron ore field lies to the south of the town and with the local coalfield providing energy for steel production, the world’s first large-scale steelworks was opened in the Moss Bay area of the town. The Moss Bay Steelworks closed in 1982, followed by the closure of the last local coal mine in 1986. After the loss of the two industries on which Workington was built – coal and steel – Workington and the whole of West Cumbria became an unemployment blackspot. Today, many of Workington’s residents are employed outside the town in the nuclear industry, located in and around Sellafield, West Cumbria’s dominant employment sector.Workington at Work explores the life of this West Cumbrian town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, it looks at the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on the population and the consequences of rapid urbanisation, the changes in the industrial landscape during the Victorian era, and the impact of war and the post-war decline of its heavy industries. It takes us through the years of depression and decay to twenty-first-century regeneration and projects such as the £50-million Washington Square shopping centre and mixed use complex, named as the ‘best commercial project’ in north-west England.

Bradford is rightly proud of its industrial heritage. This West Yorkshire city rose to prominence during the nineteenth century as an international centre of textile manufacturing, particularly worsted. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, becoming known worldwide as ‘Worstedopolis’. The area’s access to a supply of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of Bradford’s manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacturing grew, led to an explosion in population.Bradford at Work explores the life of the city and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of photographs and illustrations it takes us from the city’s early days as a major steel town and then a growing centre of the wool trade, through the Industrial Revolution, the traumas of the war years, post-war industrial decline and into the technologically advanced world of today. It shows how Bradford has transformed itself from a textile town into a centre of education and innovation, as well as a burgeoining tourist destination, becoming the first UNESCO City of Film with attractions such as the National Media Museum, Bradford City Park, and the Alhambra Theatre. The book also covers industry in neighbouring Saltaire and Shipley, chapters on the often forgotten local cotton industry, the industrial village of Ripley Ville and Leeds Bradford Airport.

The Shropshire town of Shrewsbury grew first as a major wool trading centre. Later this was replaced by a trade in woven Welsh cloth, which continued until the eighteenth century when more efficient production was introduced with the coming of the Industrial Revolution. The town played its part in the Industrial Revolution when ironmaster William Hazledine created his ironworks in Coleham and manufactured the bridges designed by civil engineer Thomas Telford. With the coming of the railways markets opened up for Shropshire’s agricultural products and agricultural engineers such as Thomas Corbett could also get their products to a far wider market. The Sentinel Steam Wagon Company relocated to Shrewsbury from Glasgow in 1915, and after diesel replaced steam they made diesel engines for lorries and buses.In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, Shrewsbury at Work explores the life of this Shropshire town and its people, from its pre-industrial beginnings, through the Second World War when Bren gun carriers and diesel engines for British Army tanks were manufactured in the town, into the technologically advanced world of today as manufacturing and specialist engineering continue to be important employment sectors.

The small market town of Bungay, situated close to the River Waveney on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, has been continuously settled by Iron Age, Roman and Saxon communities. The town achieved considerable prominence and prosperity when the wealthy Bigod family, Earls of Norfolk, established a castle fortress here in c. 1165. By the eighteenth century it had grown into a thriving market town and became known as ‘Little London’. The river navigation increased with the supply of timber, coals, malt, and dairy products to British troops during the Napoleonic Wars. Brewing became an increasingly important trade and in the nineteenth century a local printing business flourished, benefitting from innovations in technology and the production of affordable Bibles. In 1877 it was taken over by the London firm of Clay’s, and continues today as one of the world’s largest producers of books. A silk factory provided work for 300 employees. Rail goods and passenger transport commenced in 1860, but had partly an adverse effect, encouraging locals to shop in the larger towns, and by the early twentieth century agricultural depression brought economic decline. With the outbreak of war and conscription, pubs also suffered and many closed – only eleven of the original thirty-three survived at the end of the century. The Waveney silted up, so navigation and contact with the Broads and local ports ceased.In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, Bungay At Work explores the life of this East Anglian town and its people, from its pre-industrial beginnings, through two world wars and into the twenty-first century as Bungay reinvents itself as a tourist destination.

Epsom is the home of the Derby, where racehorses from the training stables can be seen every morning riding out on the world-famous Downs. But it has had many other industries since the 1820s, when a rural parish of farmers, millers and maltsters embraced new urban trades. Resident gentry patronised clockmakers and herald painters, while stagecoaches on the Brighton road needed wheelwrights and saddlers. Gunpowder mills on the nearby river were profitable but dangerous. When the railway came, dairymen and brick-makers soon learnt to supply the London market. With its own brewery, printworks and ironfounders, Epsom had every Victorian amenity.The expansion of suburbia in the 1930s brought new opportunities for builders and landscape gardeners, cut short by the Second World War when people learnt once more to rely on local resources. The following years saw international companies of engineers relocating to Epsom while local family firms learnt to live in a global world, all breaking off once a year to host the greatest race in the world. With a mixture of old and new photographs, reminiscences and new documentary research, Epsom at Work pays tribute to a Surrey community that is so much more than a one-horse town.

The market town of Petersfield lies on the edge of the beautiful South Downs, and it has much to thank its idyllic location for. From medieval origins its prosperity was based on the rural economy of sheep farming, hop growing and cottage industries. It was also an important stagecoach stop on the route from London to Portsmouth.Like many small towns, it was transformed by the railway, which arrived in 1859 and brought trade, industry and a surge in both people and buildings. Building expansion in the Victorian era included the Corn Exchange, schools, a courthouse, churches and a cottage hospital.In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, Petersfield at Work explores the life of this Hampshire town and its people, from its pre-industrial beginnings, through two world wars, and into the twenty-first century.

The city of Liverpool is famous throughout the world. This once small fishing village was transformed into a mighty commercial powerhouse, seen by many as the second city of the British Empire. In 1715 Liverpool created the world’s first enclosed, commercial wet dock; eventually there would be docks along 7.5 miles of the River Mersey. It rapidly grew into the greatest port and city in the entire British Empire outside London. Nevertheless, by 1980 Liverpool’s population had decreased by over half. Its infrastructure and economy were decaying, and its political leaders were driving the city towards complete collapse.In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, well-known local author Ken Pye explores the life of this great city and its people, from its heyday as a major trading port, through two world wars, post-war decline and into the technologically advanced world of today. Liverpool has risen again to become the fastest growing economy in Britain, a European Capital of Culture and a UNESCO World Heritage City.

The popular north Wales seaside resort of Llandudno has a surprisingly long and intriguing history that predates the development of the present town, though its influence is still very apparent today. In the mid-nineteenth century major changes saw a new town emerging, one dominated by services for holidaymakers and visitors. Founded by Lord Mostyn and his family, this multifaceted industry embraced hotels, stagecoaches, traditional Punch and Judy, postcard kings, museums, the lifeboat, Bronze Age copper mines and colourful characters such as the famous ‘birdman’ of the early 1900s, to name but a few of those people who have worked – and continue to work – in many and varied ways to serve the tourist industry and the town.Illustrated with a fascinating series of contemporary and rare historical photographs, local author Peter Johnson explores the life of the ‘Queen of the Welsh Resorts’ from its earliest days, through two world wars and into the twenty-first century as Llandudno continues to evolve and thrive as a popular holiday destination.

Leicester is proud of its industrial heritage. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the city’s population grow rapidly with the construction of the Grand Union Canal and the arrival of the railway, which not only provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries but also linked the town to the national network. These developments encouraged and accompanied a process of industrialisation that intensified throughout the Victorian era; hosiery, textiles, and footwear became the major industrial employers.Leicester at Work explores the life of the East Midlands’ largest city and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations it takes readers through the city’s dramatic industrial growth, the steady decline in Leicester’s traditional manufacturing industries during the post-war years and their replacement by new jobs in the service sector, particularly in retail. It takes us into the technologically advanced world of today, showing how Leicester has reinvented itself as a major distribution centre and how the city has managed to attract new service and manufacturing businesses through its academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments at Leicester University, De Montfort University and nearby Loughborough University.

Sheffield has been dubbed ‘Steel City’ but it was and still is much more than that, and it is for much more than manufacturing metal ingots that Sheffield earned its national and international reputation. For centuries it produced cutlery, files, a vast range of agricultural implements, Old Sheffield Plate, silverware, crinoline wires, umbrella frames, the railway lines that transformed Britain’s transport system, and shells and armour plate for the armed forces. And then there are the mushy peas, Liquorice Allsorts, Henderson’s Relish and Izal disinfectant!Today Sheffield is a prime example of a post-industrial city and has the reputation of being the country’s greenest city. Its two universities attract more than 60,000 students every year. The Lower Don Valley, described in the 1970s as an industrial wasteland, is now crowded with edge-of-town shopping, entertainment and sporting destinations. But manufacturing still continues, with firms manufacturing forged and cast steel for the engineering, nuclear and petrochemical industries worldwide and special steels for the aerospace, oil and automotive industries. At the other end of the scale individual craftsmen still produce bespoke knives in small workshops.Join authors Melvyn and Joan Jones as they uncover the working life of Sheffield past and present through informative text and a wide range of related images.

The Lincolnshire town of Grantham was historically an important market town and centre of the wool trade, benefitting from its position on the Great North Road, the main north–south route through England, now the A1. The Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the canals and railways transformed Grantham as new industries were established in the town. Engineering companies arrived, giving employment to many in the town. Some were of national importance such as blacksmith Richard Hornsby’s business repairing carriages and agricultural machinery, which later, as Ruston Hornsby, moved into steam engine production, pioneered the steel plough, produced an early oil engine and created one of the first tracked vehicles. Other companies followed specialising in traction engines, tractors, dumper trucks, cranes, road rollers and aircraft cannon, as well as brewing and a food-canning factory. However, the post-war decline of manufacturing industries has led to the closure of these factories in recent decades and today Grantham is characterised by such diverse industries as food processing, distribution, services and healthcare.Grantham at Work explores the working life of this Lincolnshire town, its people and the industries that have characterised it. This book traces the story of Grantham’s growth in the nineteenth century following the arrival of the railways and its development from a market town to a centre of industry, through two world wars and the changes in recent years as many of the old manufacturing industries have gone, to be replaced by new businesses today.

Though often seen as the smaller twin of Manchester, Salford – its neighbour across the River Irwell – boasts a rich industrial heritage. Cotton and silk spinning and weaving in local mills attracted an influx of families and provided Salford with a strong economy. However, it was the completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 that triggered the town’s development as a major inland port, and Salford expanded rapidly from a small market town into a major industrial metropolis. The population rose from 12,000 in 1812 to 70,244 within thirty years. By the end of the nineteenth century it had increased to 220,000, mostly housed in low-quality and overcrowded Victorian terraces, leading to chronic social deprivation.Salford at Work explores the life of Salford and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, it takes us through the dramatic rise and fall of the textile industry and the town’s role as a major inland port, the trauma of high unemployment between the wars, post-war industrial decline and into the twenty-first century, showing how this ‘Dirty Old Town’ has successfully transformed itself from one of the country’s most deprived areas into a thriving post-industrial city.

The city of Oxford has a long and prosperous history. First mentioned by name in the early tenth century as one of the burhs, or fortified places, that King Alfred and his descendants had constructed to protect Wessex from the Vikings, Oxford has played a significant part in many of the great historical events that have shaped the country. In the twelfth century the University of Oxford began to take shape, establishing the city as a centre of learning, which it remains today.Oxford at Work explores the life of this ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ and its people. It takes us from the founding of St Frideswide’s nunnery in the eighth century and the emergence of its university in the late twelfth century – the first in the English-speaking world – through its growth and development as one of the country’s leading centres of education, science, publishing and motor manufacturing, to its current status as one of the fastest growing and ethnically diverse cities in the UK.

In virtually every street in Norwich you can see the legacy left by the city’s trade and industry over the centuries. Norwich at Work tells the story of its citizens’ working life and guides present-day visitors and residents alike through Norwich’s rich industrial architectural heritage. The book will take the reader on a journey from the prosperous Norwich of the Middle Ages, then England’s second largest city. It will chart the growth and decline of the textile trade and the emergence of new businesses such as brewing and footwear, as well as their eventual demise – in the first half of the nineteenth century there were twenty-seven breweries in Norwich and in the 1930s over 10,000 people worked in shoe and boot manufacturing in the city, including for famous names such as Clarks, Norvic and Bally. The twentieth century witnessed the boom of the media and financial services industries, including Norwich Union insurance (now Aviva). Other famous Norwich businesses such as Colman’s (mustard), Caley’s (chocolate) and Jarrold (department store) are also featured.With a fascinating series of photographs and illustrations, Norwich at Work traces the story of the changing patterns of work in Norwich through the centuries. It will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this city in Norfolk.

Jarrow has a rich history going back well over a thousand years, but the town is best known for its long-term association with shipbuilding. Charles Mark Palmer established a shipyard – Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company – in 1852 and became the first armour-plate manufacturer in the world. John Bowes, the first iron screw collier, revived the Tyne coal trade, and Palmers was responsible for building the first modern cargo ship as well as a number of notable warships. Palmers employed as much as 80 per cent of the town’s working population until its closure in 1933.Jarrow at Work explores the life of this Tyneside town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day, in a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations. It takes us through the phenomenal growth of the shipbuilding industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its subsequent decline and brief revival during the First World War when the Royal Navy needed more ships, post-war nationalisation of the shipbuilding industry, the closure of the last shipyard in the town in 1981, and finally how the town is coping today with the loss of such a major part of its history.

The Weymouth that we know today started as two towns: Weymouth and Melcombe. Weymouth originally occupied the south shore of the English Channel coast in Dorset, hemmed in by the harbour and Portland Bay, with the Isle of Portland joined to it on the south. Melcombe was on the north shore of the harbour on a small sandbank. In 1571 Elizabeth I passed a charter amalgamating the two boroughs and the port continued to grow. Fortunes changed during the siege of the town in the English Civil War and the rise of smuggling in the eighteenth century. This time was also the beginning of Weymouth as a tourist town and as a fashionable coastal resort.Weymouth also benefited from being the embarkation point for the packet services to the Channel Islands and for paddle steamer services and excursions. In the nineteenth century Robert Whitehead, pioneer engineer of the naval torpedo, opened his factory in Weymouth. The Isle of Portland also had its distinctive industries, quarried for its limestone and home to a massive naval base. The area was one of the key embarkation points for D-Day during the Second World War and today is a major sailing and surfing centre.Weymouth & Portland at Work explores the working life of this Dorset town and its people. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Weymouth and Portland.