The appointment by Aggregate Industries of a
Group Historian and Archivist reflects the company's growing
awareness of the interest and importance of the past history and
development of the quarrying industry, in general, and of Aggregate
Industries in particular.
In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen's heroine, Catherine Morland,
confesses that 'History, real solemn history, I cannot be
interested in.' Then, on hearing that her friend Miss Tilney is
fond of history, she replies with some feeling: 'I wish I were too.
I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not
either vex or weary me.'Poor Catherine!
The historian's task is so to give his account of the past that
it is not only as accurate as possible but also to tell it in such
a way that his narrative neither vexes nor wearies. It might be
thought that the history of quarrying could only vex and weary. But
with the help of the archivist this need not be so. An archive is a
collection of records, accumulated over time. They may relate to an
individual, a family, a company, a corporation, or to a whole
nation. They have been preserved because of their enduring value as
the memory of those who created them in the first place. They
provide vital evidence of past events, and the careful keeping of
its archives is essential for any community wanting to record, and
learn from, its past.
Some might ask: why bother about the Company's past? It's doing
well, the results are good, the shareholders are content, we have
even taken on board concepts like sustainability and stewardship.
Quarrying is no longer labour intensive, and much of it is now
computer operated. Where there was once a sense of community there
is often now the loneliness of crusher cab, with little more than
the occasional cheery wave, from the quarry manager far below, who
nowadays may be a circulating pluralist, managing three or more
quarries. 'I go home and have nothing to tell the wife, as once I
did, for up in my cab I have seen no one and spoken to no one'. In
such circumstances a sense of history and the appreciation that
this is an industry in which 'no man is an island entire unto
himself' have their importance. But alas, the industry as a whole
has been conspicuous neither for its sense of history nor for its
awareness of how it has shaped men's lives. It is considerations
such as these which make the decision of Aggregate
Industries to record the history of its constituent parts
and to preserve its heritage so welcome.
RWD Fenn
Group Historian and Archivist