Stability and Change in an English County Town: A Social Study of York 1801-51

During the Industrial Revolution the attention of contemporaries was drawn inevitably towards conditions in the great manufacturing towns, a bias which most historical writing continues to perpetuate. By contrast, only scant attention has been paid to the development of older-established communities, although their stimulation during this period of transition is of compelling interest. County towns were by no means insulated from the broad currents of economic and social change at work in s...