This thesis presents an historical geography of the British quarrying industry, c.1850- c.1950. During this time of significant spatial and structural change in British industry, the quarrying industry was important as an industry which achieved a dramatically increased level and value of output, was an important employer, and was highly significant in terms of supplying the raw materials required for industrialisation and urbanisation. Despite this, there is no existing account of overall spatial and structural change in this industrial sector for this period. The literature on this period comprises only isolated case studies of particular quarrying industries or firms. This thesis thus makes a contribution to knowledge in three key areas. First, it undertakes a description and evaluation of the sources available for the study of the quarrying industry. In particular it focuses on the neglected official statistics of the quarrying industry, outlining their nature and limitations and illustrating how they offer a unique insight into an industrial sector in this period, providing as they do, a systematic record of change at the county ani national level from 1895-1948. Second, after outlining the nature of the quarrying industry in the mid-nineteenth century, the thesis uses these statistics to present an analysis of change in the key characteristics of the industry, i.e. level and value of output, labour, number of firms and quarries between 1895-1948. The overall pattern for the quarrying industry is one of a dramatically increasing level and value of output, but a decrease in labour, firms and quarries. Thus the national picture is one of rationalisation to increase output, particularly rnsociated with mechanisation and the amalgamation of firms. Third, for the period 1895-1948 an analysis is presented of the spatial location of quarry production, and of the spatial variation in structural change within the industry, i.e. in output, employment and number of firms and quarries. This allows the identification of the spatial dynamics of change in the industry. A complex picture is revealed of how the dramatic increase in output was achieved by different regional dynamics, with spatial variation in the restructuring oflabour, number of firms and quarries.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:248810 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Spires, Thomas Bennett |
| Publisher | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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