"Ignorance, it has been said, is a prerequisite
of the historian. This is particularly true of
anyone who attempts to survey, however super- ficially, the achievements of the nineteenth
century. The material at his hand is so overwhelming
in bulk and so bewildering in texture
and colour, that all he can do is pick over the
tumbled debris of this vast quarry, and select
at random a few stones which, when held up to
the light, may reveal something of the nature
of the complex mass from which they came. "(H. Casson, An Introduction to Victorian
Architecture, 1948).As little recent research had been done on the 'portable building'
a large part of my study was concentrated on this subject. It soon
became obvious that the work of Andrew Handyside of Derby was of
particular interest in this field and I was persuaded to publish a
paper on their work separately.I have not, therefore, included this material in the main body
of the thesis and have only referred to it where the text demanded.The major departure from a generally chronological account was
the decision to single out, for reasons of clarity, the account of the
contribution of iron to the development of a new style of architecture.Because many of the buildings examined in the thesis may be
unfamiliar, I thought it sensible to include a rather large number of
plates. This has had the beneficial effect of being able to reduce
the length of descriptions of these buildings and to simplify the
technical explanations that were necessary. In addition much of
the illustrated material is only available in 19th century books,
pamphlets and journals, many of which are scarce and therefore
difficult to consult.A precise definition of iron architecture is almost impossible.
As it was used in the 19th century it referred to the use of iron in a
building as its major structural and constructional material and to
the use of the material where it had a.radical influence on the appearance
of the building. I have followed this general meaning and therefore
have excluded from the study iron balconies, railings, gates, and
other examples of ornamental ironwork that were added to buildings.
In addition engineering structures, such as bridges, piers, and
lighthouses, have not been included unless they had a direct effect
on the use of iron in architecture
