Clay Cross is a classic product of the Industrial Revolution. The town's industrial future was sealed in 1837 with the driving of the Clay Cross Tunnel and the simutaneous founding of the George Stephenson Company, which became the Clay Cross Company in 1851. This book of over 200 photogrpahs gives a glimpse of that industrial history and forms a sort of industrial directory of the development of the company and the way that it influenced the lives of the people of the town. It emphasises the company's paternal imperatives, which insured retention of labour and moulded a core of sober and subserviant workers. These old photographs and documents will bring back strong memories for Clay Cross families and introduce newcomers to a bygone area. George Stephenson would be gratified to learn that his company still flourished, now in the hands of the Biwater Company, and the railway line still runs, albeit as an Inter-city express.