In 2015, archaeological investigations by Headland Archaeology in Blackburn, Lancashire, uncovered the remains of the 19th-century St Peter’s church and a large part of its graveyard. The remains of nearly 2000 of Blackburn’s inhabitants were found, buried between 1821 and c 1860. 

This study of the archaeological, artefactual, and osteological remains sheds light on 19th-century Blackburn, a period where the town was at its peak as one of the industrial powerhouses of northern England. Complimentary historical research into the church and the lives of some of those buried there allow a glimpse of the human side of the industrial revolution. 

The resulting picture shows Blackburn as a place full of prosperity, pollution, poverty, and opportunity, as it rapidly expanded over the course of the century. As one of the first industrialised societies, it forged its own way of life. This book shows it also had a particularly distinctive way of death.

AUTHOR

Julie Franklin is finds manager and a post-excavation project manager with Headland Archaeology. She has over 30 years’ experience in commercial archaeology, has extensive specialist knowledge of artefacts and of medieval and post-medieval archaeology and her work has been widely published.

Matthew Ginnever has degrees from Oxford and UCL including an MA in Managing Archaeological Sites. He was an experienced project officer at Headland Archaeology during the Blackburn excavations. He is now a senior project manager at MOLA. His experience covers many parts of the UK, including several large infrastructure projects. 

Kimberley Gaunt is a post-excavation project officer with Headland Archaeology. She has experience in both fieldwork and post-excavation within the commercial sector. She has a post-graduate degree in Forensic Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh where her research focused on 3D computerised models in skeletal identification and assessment. 

List of contributors: Laura Bailey, Andy Barlow†, Julia Bastek-Michalska, Angela Boyle, Leia Carter, Emmanouil Kapazoglou, Amy Koonce, Suzanne McGalliard, Shakawan Mawlood, Debora Moretti, Benjamin Pickard, Catriona Pickard, Matthew Thompson, Penelope Walton Rogers†, Beata Wieczorek-Oleksy, Eleanor Winter.

REVIEW

‘This is a welcome volume and its content contributes to developing our understanding of post-medieval populations. [It] complements what has gone before, but also extends what is already known about these industrial populations, especially for the north of England.’ Emerita Professor Charlotte Roberts, Department of Archaeology, University of Durham