Industrial Revolution began in 17th not 18th century, say academics

The industrial era may long predate the early steam locomotives now found in places such as the Beamish Museum, County Durham. Photograph: Vivienne Crow/Alamy

The Industrial Revolution started more than 100 years earlier than previously thought, new research suggests, with Britons already shifting from agricultural work to manufacturing in the 1600s.

Seventeenth century Britain can be understood as the start of the Industrial Revolution, laying down the foundations for a shift from an agricultural and crafts-based society to a manufacturing-dominated economy, in which networks of home-based artisans worked with merchants, functioning similarly to factories.