Eleanor Conlin Casella and James Symonds th The essays in this book are adapted from papers
presented at the 24 Annual Conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group held at the
University of Manchester in December 2002. The conference session An Industrial Revolution?
Future Directions for Industrial Arch- ology was jointly devised by the editors and sponsored
by English Heritage with the intention of gathering together leading industrial and historical
archaeologists from around the world. Speakers were asked to consider aspects of contemporary
theory and practice as well as possible future directions for the study of industrialisation
and - dustrial societies. It perhaps ?tting that this meeting was convened in Manchester which
has a rich industrial heritage and has recently been proclaimed as the archetype city of the
industrial revolution (McNeil and George 2002). However just as Manchester is being
transformed by reg- eration shaking off many of the negative connotations associated st with
factory-based industrial production and remaking itself as a 21 century city then so too is
the archaeological study of industrialisation being transformed. In the most recent overview of
industrial archaeology in the UK Sir Neil Cossons cautioned that industrial archaeology risked
becoming a one generation subject that stood on the edge of oblivion alongside th the mid-20
century pursuit of folklife studies (Cossons 2000:13). It is to be hoped that the papers in
this volume demonstrate that this will not be the case.
