ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores four reflective essays which set out the essential values and meanings associated with the Industrial Revolution, industrialisation and its material and cultural heritage. It examines the methodological and technical options that are available to interrogate the raw material, the physical evidence for industrialisation and the societies that developed within it: artefacts, structures, sites, processes and landscapes as well as documents and images. The book discusses the part education has to play, not only by traditional methods but also through the internet, in making sure that public heritage agencies, non-profit groups, archaeological contractors, architectural practices, consultancies or owners, are suitably equipped to treat the historic material of industry in an informed way. It examines how the industrial heritage identified, understood, protected and how it can be shared and enjoyed.
