I find it fascinating where much of the early construction of steam engines, casting and such were done. Not always where you expect as the map of the industrial revolution evolved to the areas we know and recognise as centres for heavy industry over time, in part by dint of access to transportation. So Wantage was a centre for Chain making, rural Aldbourne, Bell making etc. Of course there was Norfolk which was big in Steam traction engines, I forget the maker.
Beyond that is that very often the celebrated and preserved landscapes that folk faun over are a product of wholly unnatural treatment and activity. Some become National Parks to be preserved in aspic The New Forest, Lake District, Dartmoor are all products of poor land management, indeed Dartmoor is a preserved disaster area. The Pembrokshire coast walk owes much of its landscape to mining. Not a great problem unless it is forgotten why these places exist as the day might come when we need to alter the land management to a better one while preserving some other area that now seems unlikely like Birmingham. Life demands we live in certain ways at certain times and the only thing that is certain is change. The Great British Museum movement will not last forever, especially if it does not make money. Just as Wantage does not make Chains anymore, Aldbourne, Bells and Norfolk, Steam traction engines.
