This fascinating guide to Britain's industrial past tells the story of industrial development and decline as well as highlighting industrial architecture.

Hubert Pragnell, author of Britain: a guide to architectural styles, provides, in this new book, a thorough and clear picture of this often neglected and left- to-decay architecture, much of which has been lost over the years. He is an informed writer who has meticulously researched his subject. Pointing the way to the merit of the structure itself and isolating individual segments-a chimney here, a piece of brickwork there-he provides the reader with the means to appreciate and enjoy a mostly overlooked heritage.

He defines industrial heritage to indicate buildings used for production of commodities or for assembly of products. Topics cover Fire, Forges and Furnaces, The Watermill and Windmill, The Visual Power of the Power Station, The Gasworks, Temples of Mass Production: the Mill, Warehouse and Manufactory, Dock and Harbour Buildings, Water Power and Water Storage, The Architecture of Waterways: Canals and Rivers, The Architecture of the Railway Age, Markets and Exchanges and The 20th Century: Industry on Greenfield Sites.

Fascinating bits of information are included: the longest single industrial building in use in Britain, the largest warehouse in the world, the oldest working beam engine in the world and much, much more. The book should be savoured slowly to appreciate and digest its contents. It brings to the reader not only an awareness of industrial heritage but an appreciation for it. It is a little treasure.

Like its predecessor, Britain: a guide to architectural styles, this new book contains exquisitely detailed black and white drawings that lend explanation to the text. An index is provided, along with suggestions for further reading. The handy size of this guide (4x4x1inches) makes it ideal to pack wherever you go. Take it along when you travel and look at these buildings with new eyes.

Essential Information:
Published 2000 by Ellipsis
2 Rufus St.
London, England NI 6PE
website: www.ellipsis.com

©2000 by Barbara Ballard. Reproduction of this work in whole or in part, including images, and reproduction in electronic media, without documented permission from the author is prohibited. Book cover courtesy Ellipsis Press.