The Archaeology of Underground Mines and Quarries in England

Abstract

local planning controls which finally led to the end of court housing in the early twentieth century. As a historical and social overview it draws upon contemporary writings, both of the court housing inhabitants themselves and those in authority. There are short vignettes on key personages, expanded quotations and a summary of local and national housing legislation, whilst a wider context is provided by mention of court housing elsewhere in northern England, Scotland, Europe and America. This is a lot to encompass within such a short work of c. 20,000 words, especially as it includes an extensive bibliography, which is referenced throughout the text. The volume deftly balances social and political details within a broader context, whilst demonstrating that this is a thoroughly researched piece of work. It highlights both the good and bad sides of court houses, and the observations about migrant populations (in the mid-nineteenth century the majority of the court housing in Liverpool was occupied by poor first-generation Irish immigrants), and the profits to be made from the poor quality of this rapidly built housing resonate in the third decade of the twenty-first century, with our contemporary worries around housing affordability and urban regeneration. The use of volunteers and the cooperation between museum and university showcase the benefits of widening engagement in what could have been a dry, narrow, academic project. It has already led to a museum exhibition and the promise of a second follow-up study, and in the current study has produced a volume that is a fine introduction to the workers’ housing side of Liverpool’s industrialisation story.