ABSTRACT
Excavations revealed a cement re-flooring event in the east of the structure, possibly undertaken as a mitigation of the persistent structural subsidence mentioned by all three former site occupants. The architectural adaptations and improvisations recorded within Industrial Era settlements can therefore be read as archaeological signatures of socio-economic continuity. As former residents and neighbours of the Hagg Cottages toured the excavations, they would offer memories of the recovered structures and artefacts. It is only through this articulation of the local with the global that we can use the excavation of Industrial Era settlements to demonstrate how diverse communities across the globe adapted to this new world order. Other projects in the wider north-west region, most recently David Barker's work in Stoke-on-Trent, have recorded a similar style of flooring within ground floor rooms — suggesting a ubiquitous presence in kitchens and sculleries of Victorian era farms and terraced houses.
