A 10-mile tour around sites in London highlighting the ‘before’, ‘after’ & ‘what next?’ of an Industrial Revolution kicked off by a patent granted in Britain 250 years ago. From The Shard at London Bridge station to Parliament Square via St.Paul’s cathedral, The British Museum, The Science Museum and much more…..
The Tower of London 250 years to build.(1066-1300s). Turret height 32m. Built to impose William the Conqueror’s authority on the capital of England.The Globe Theatre. Sam Wanamaker’s faithful 1997 reconstruction of Shakespeare’s 1599 original. Timber frame, thatched roof.
Southwark Cathedral Mainly 200 years to build (1220-1420). At 50m tall, the tallest building in London in 1561 after the destruction of the spire of Old St. Paul’s. Traditional London start point for Canterbury pilgrims.Wren’s St. Paul’s 35 years to build (1675-1710). Dome height 111m, then the highest in Europe. 65,000 tons of Portland stone
John Burnet’s Adelaide House 4 years to build (1921-5). London’s 1st steel-framed ‘skyscraper’. 13 floors, 43m height.Renzo Piano’s ‘Shard’, 3 years to build. (2009-12). Height 310m. 14,000 tons of steel. A core of 100,000 tonnes of concrete (over 110,000 tons of CO2 generated).
THE AGE OF Maritime STEAM power
PRE-INDUSTRIALGolden Hinde(1577) 1973 working replica of Drake’s wooden galleon. Both circumnavigated the globe. 102′ long, 150 tons, 385 sq.m. sail, max speed 8 knots, 80 crew. 22 cannons, 3/4 mile range.
CARBON FUELLED HMS Belfast (1936). Steel-built cruiser. 613’long, 11,553tons 32 knots, 800 crew. 12 six-inch guns. 14 mile range – now aimed at Scratchwood motorway services.🤠Oil-fired boilers 4 steam turbines, 80,000 hp. 30 tons/hr of fuel; 120 tons/hr CO2.
CARBON FUELLED Tower Bridge (1886-94) Designed by Horace Jones. Built by John Wolfe Barry & Henry Marc Brunel. Roadway bascules lifted by steam-powered hydraulic engines (now electro-hydraulic). Clearance increases from 29ft to 135ft to allow tall ships to enter the Pool of London.11,000t of steel. Granite & Portland cladding.
COAL fired The Furnaces that gave us affordable transport
PRE-INDUSTRIAL 1818. Working from 75 Long Acre, coach builder Denis Johnson’s made over 300 wood framed/ iron wheeled ‘pedestrian curricles’ similar to those introduced in Paris in 1817 by Baron Karl von Drais
THE AGE OF CARBON 1885 Starley’s ‘Rover’ safety bike in the Science Museum. Frame made from steel tubing. Chain driven tech from the factories. A safer & faster bike than the earlier ‘Penny Farthings’ Cheaper too – affordable mobility for the masses did wonders for the gene pool.
SUSTAINABLE 2026. Brompton foldable electric city bike. The days of fuel burning cars on our city streets are numbered. Brompton sell foldable electric bikes at 69 Long Acre, right next to Johnson’s workshop of 200 years earlier.
ONE radical invention LED TO a radicalLy different Future
Starting THE AGE OF CARBON1776 Watt’s coal-fired steam-powered beam engines pumped flooding mines. Coal, iron & steel transformed industry, new enterprises evolved.
SUSTAINABLE to build, sustainable to maintain. Buro-Happold’s thin-shelled roof (2000). 3,312 double glazed panels enclosing the Great Court within the 1827 British Museum’s neo-classical building.
FINALLY,,,,,, LEADERSHIP
Pre-industrial Westminster Hall. 1094-1398. The Court of Chancery, ceremonially seated here, awarded Patent 913 to James Watt on 5/1/1769. That triggered the Industrial Revolution, slow at first then gathering pace from the mid 1900s
The Age of Carbon Houses of Parliament.1837-60. Pugin, Barry. Its pompous Gothic Revival style glorifies Britain’s superpower status, fruits of the Industrial Revolution. Within, our elected leaders now grapple with the consequences.
JOIN IN……..
Our progress has been at the expense vulnerable less developed nations. Here’s a chance to contribute by pound-matching a small, very practical initiative run by Kenyan smallholders taking responsibility for positive action into their own hands, organising themselves, finding ways to adapt, sharing their learning. We’re raising funds to meet half the cost of a small second-hand tractor and trailer to help these smallholders up their game. Click the thumbnail here to chip into our tractor fund. There’s more detail on our crowdfunding page. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/peter-bedingfield and also HERE.
