Roads and routeways in County Durham, 1530-1730
Roads and routeways, whether engineered or created ad hoc, create a dynamic element to the lives of those who use them and facilitate many features of day to day life. As such they have been a fundamental and powerfully ideological part of human existence. This thesis shows the causes and effects of road and transport network development in County Durham in the period from 1530 to 1730, and challenges the commonly made assertion that routes changed little from the Medieval period until the Industrial Revolution. Drove routes, lead mining routes and the infrastructure of re-used Roman roads are viewed holistically and considered as individual and integrated networks over a broad time period. These networks are analysed and compared using quantitive spatial analysis and GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques to examine which factors were pivotal in the creation of each road or routeway system. In addition, factors such as consumption patterns, shifts in population and funding mechanisms are drawn upon to examine roads as artefacts and cultural markers. Thus the roads and the roadscapes are used to study the identities of those who used them. A trial of dating techniques with which to date roads, with
Hutton, Gillian Maria
Roads and routeways in County Durham, 1530-1730. Roads and routeways, whether engineered or created ad hoc, create a dynamic element to the lives of those who use them and facilitate many features of day to day life. As such they have been a fundamental and powerfully ideological part of human existence. This thesis shows the causes and effects of road and transport network development in County Durham in the period from 1530 to 1730, and challenges the commonly made assertion that routes changed little from the Medieval period until the Industrial Revolution. Drove routes, lead mining routes and the infrastructure of re-used Roman roads are viewed holistically and considered as individual and integrated networks over a broad time period. These networks are analysed and compared using quantitive spatial analysis and GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques to examine which factors were pivotal in the creation of each road or routeway system. In addition, factors such as consumption patterns, shifts in population and funding mechanisms are drawn upon to examine roads as artefacts and cultural markers. Thus the roads and the roadscapes are used to study the identities of those who used them. A trial of dating techniques with which to date roads, with
roads county_durham roads whether engineer create hoc create dynamic element life use facilitate many feature day day life fundamental ideological part human_existence show cause_effect road transport network development county_durham period challenge commonly make assertion route change little medieval_period industrial_revolution route lead_mining route infrastructure re_used roman_road view holistically consider individual integrated network broad time_period network analyse_compare use spatial_analysis gis techniques examine factor pivotal creation road system addition factor consumption_pattern shift population funding mechanism draw_upon examine road artefacts cultural_marker thus road use study identity use them trial date technique date road