ABSTRACT

The industrialisation of the Gorge entailed major changes in the geography of land use and settlement patterns, outlined in the preceding chapter. This chapter traces the ways in which this geography was shaped through the operation of particular processes of land development and building. It shows that the various phases of geographical development were associated with particular types of land development, and that these in turn were linked with particular building types. The key to an understanding of the processes making this landscape lies in changes in the valuation and uses of land brought about by industrialisation. This chapter suggests that not only the buildings, but also the plots and their pattern of development, can be related to phases in the economy of land use.