Specialism: The Age of the Victorians - ARC00107H

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Module summary

The module uses archaeological evidence to explore the major social, economic, cultural and political transformations of the Age of the Victorians. Rapid industrialisation and technological innovation reconfigured Britain’s global position, but led to dangerous working conditions, child labour and cramped urban housing, with new cultural attitudes, and social and political reform movements emerging in response. The built environment, material culture and burial record are used to explore the impact of these changes on everyday life, health, work, and society in nineteenth-century Britain and its colonies.

Related modules

A directed option - students must pick a Specialism module and have a choice of which to take

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2026-27

Module aims

3rd year specialism modules focus upon the archaeology of a well defined time, space or theme and the modules seek to allow students, in small groups to focus upon primary source material and to apply to it the theoretical and thematic perspectives learned over your first and second years. The aim is to facilitate the acquisition of deeper knowledge of one aspect of the past than has been possible in more general courses.

Specifically this module aims:

• To examine the scholarly approaches to and range of archaeological evidence for Britain and its colonies during the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on lived experience
• To evaluate and critique approaches to studying lived experience using the built environment, material culture and burial record
• To develop research, analytical and communication skills.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• demonstrate a broad and comparative knowledge of evidence for lived experience in Victorian Britain and its colonies
• critically discuss and assess the key theories, methods and debates, and their limitations
• critically evaluate primary data and evidence
• communicate an in-depth, logical and structured argument, supported by archaeological evidence

Module content

The module begins with a broad overview of the main social, economic, cultural and political transformations of the Age of the Victorians, broadly covering the period from the 1830s to the turn of the twentieth century, highlighting the principal forms of archaeological evidence available for their study. This period saw rapidly increasing industrialisation and expansion of urban centres, to which thousands were drawn for the new employment opportunities offered in factories, where they encountered dangerous working condition, child labour and cramped housing. Social and political movements and reforms emerged in response to this changed world, advocating for improved working and living conditions. There were also new forms of mass entertainment activities, including steam-powered fairgrounds, professional sport, and popular theatre, while understanding of the past was fostered through the expansion of urban museums as expressions of colonial power, and developments in archaeological practice. The focus will be mainly on Britain, but we will also explore migration to British colonies, whether as opportunities taken up or enforced without choice. We will then explore a selection of case studies, using archaeological evidence to uncover lived experiences through this period of rapid change. These will include the study of factory buildings, working-class and institutional housing for insights into urban life; excavated cemeteries as sources for both funerary practices and the impact on health of industrialisation; domestic material culture, particularly pottery, to illuminate cultural and social attitudes; the material remains of popular entertainment, including lantern slides and memorabilia, to examine leisure; the archaeology of the railways to understand the impact of new forms of transport; and archaeological practice and museum collecting as guides to attitudes to the past. We will also examine a selection of settlements in North America and Australasia, to where colonial attitudes were transported and transformed. We will see that in this period lie the origins of some of the major concerns of contemporary society including social inequality, climate change and capitalism. In the assessment, students are encouraged to focus on the areas of the module that most interest them.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Oral presentation/seminar/exam	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Oral presentation/seminar/exam	100.0

Module feedback

Formative: oral feedback from module leaders in class

Summative: written feedback within the University's turnaround policy

Indicative reading

• Clark, K. and Nevell, M. (2026) The spoils of industry: the archaeology of the 18th and 19th centuries. In V. Cummings and S. Driscoll (eds), The archaeology of Britain: an introduction from earliest times to the twenty-first century. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.385–411
• Gowland, R. L., Caffell, A. C., Quade, L. et al. (2023) The expendables: bioarchaeological evidence for pauper apprentices in 19th-century England and the health consequences of child labour. PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284970
• Owens, A., Jeffries, N., Wehner, K., and Featherby, R. (2010) Fragments of the modern city: material culture and the rhythms of everyday life in Victorian London. Journal of Victorian Culture 15: 212–25