History of Coal 3: How Coal Stayed Cheap

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The next few episodes are going to focus on coal use in 18th century Britain. In that century British people learned how to use coal not only to heat their homes, but to make things like iron and cotton fabric and beer. Historians know this as the Industrial Revolution. This productive explosion opened up a Pandora's Box of cheap goods and massive carbon emissions that we have to deal with today. In this episode we'll be looking at what 18th century Britain was like. And we'll be going into the mines themselves to understand how coal stayed cheap, despite its huge popularity. It's a story of pumps, canals, wagonways, and carts.

High fashion in the 18th Century.

So there's a Canal Mania game.

Overviews of 18th Century British History

Frank O'Gorman, The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832

James Vernon, Modern Britain, 1750 to the Present (Cambridge History of Britain)

Sources

The Coal and Iron Industries (The Industrial Revolutions, Vol 10) (v. 10)

Michael Flinn, The History of the British Coal Industry, Vol 2 1700-1830: The Industrial Revolution

Rolf Sieferle, The Subterranean Forest: Energy Systems and the Industrial Revolution

E.A. Wrigley, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution