Medieval Small Towns

8/10/2019 Medieval Small Towns

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6

C H R I S T O P H E R D Y E R

period heSol-c

I I

oo. Tlie discovery of the prc-850

ernboria

at Southampton, Ipswich,

London and York represents a grcat achievement. Excavation has also revealed

the scale, intcrlsity and complexity of the urban settlements of the period 850- I I

oo

at Lincoln, London, Norwicll, Stamford, Tlietford, Winchester and York. Most

small towns, however, devclopcd in tllc I nth arid I gth centuries.

In fact while these early phases of large url->ancentres catch the licadlines,

nine-tcnths of medieval ur l~ ai i rchaeolo,gy has hccn concerned with the period

after

I

100, and illvcstigation of that period has the capacity to expand our

ktiowledge, dccpcn our understanding, and revcal ncw dimensions of medieval

towns. This is true of research in all towns, regardless of tllcir sizc. Excavators in

small towns oftcii complain that the matcrial culture which they e~~counter

rescmhles that of villages rather than cities. In fact thc cornparison is difficult to

make hecausc the opporturiitics of small-town archaeology are iillerior to those in

most deserted villages. The continued occupation of many town sites rneans that

thc street froiitagcs, that is the main buildings, are often not available for

excavation, and modern intrusions have destroyed features, and riot just at the

front of the building plots.

A

caricature can

bc

drawn ofa typical small town site as an area of a medieval

back yard, which has little stratigraphy and a scatter of pits, with a few postholes

that can occasionally be interpreted as a structure. '111~ inds consist of sherds of

13th- and 14th-century pottery, with some residual Romano-British and Early-

medieval matcrial. Such sites have indeed heen excavated, but I will argue that this

rather aloomy view of poor quality deposits is exaggerated, and that even an

unpromising site can yield evidence useful for answering broad academic qucstio~ls.

A

qrcat deal of' evidence has heen accumulated kom small towns. Whcrl

~ r cn v i l l e still gave an overvicw

o

tlre sut~jectn

1985,

he cited in his footnotes

nineteen excavations and a dozen topographical ~tudies.~n preparation for this

paper, with its fhcus on the publications of the years I 984-200 I , excavation reports

have been consulted on more than 60 towns in England and MTalcs, some of which

havc been the subject of three or more separate programmcs of invcstigatioti. This

new corpus of work has developed in sophistication, with more open-area

excavation, more eriviro~lmental nalysis, and well-informed specialist reports on

pottery and other finds. After 1990 the implementation of Planning Policy

Guideline 1 6

has meant that a crcat number of small trenches havc hccn dug in

towns, which have yieldcd very limitcd information. Tlie dated pottcry from these

interventions can throw light on the cllronology of settlement (see pp. 93--4,

below), but the most valuable results come from larger excavations, which may

have diminished in num1,cr as the result oft hc ncw planning policy.

Astill was al~lco refer to the very useful survcys of historic towns which were

produced for a numher of mainly southcrn counties, including his own exemplary

study oT Berkshire; English Heritage is now working on morc a~nh it ious nd

detailed documents on each town. Already published are a numhcr of town plan

G. ;.

Astill, ;\r-cll;icolo~q and ~ h vsmall(,^- 1nc.tl icv;rl L~ \\ .I I ' ,

'rho71

f ; \ /

Ic.ci/,ou/i

( I

985 ,

0 53

G G Astill, I I i t c ~ i i ( f i 7 [ , 11 \ I ~ l ( ' ~ k \ I i ; r ~ : l ~ r / ~ m ~ o / o ~ q i r o I~ / J / I ~ < I I \ ~ I / ( R r i ~ c l i l ~ g . 178);R . h l . ' l ' t ~ o ~ i i i ~ s ,L - I ~ ~ K ~ I I

< i r. cl~ac .olo y : ~ io \\ , lr r lgc . r~rcl ~ ~ t l r r \ t ; ~ r ~ t l i ~ i g ' ,

, 'ti~q/~\/i ~ri/cl,qo d'll/i.\('li'Ut ~O~i l / / . ,

41 ( )oI). 6

2 1 ;

itlcrn. 'hln1.kc.t

to \ \n s: l i i ~ l i l ~ g l ~ t i n ~hc asscts' . E~~,c i i . \hIf~il crqr ,b/i\oir ,c ii~or~it//.. 42 ( 2 0 ~ 2 ) .it -7 I .


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T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M E D I E V A L S M A L L T O W N S

87

analyses, mainly by historical geographers inspired 1)y Conzen's pioneering

:~pproach.Wistributionmaps of towns and collections of town p la~ls ave featured

in somc of the growirlg numt~cr f historical atlases fbr English counties, but not in

every

Although studies of vernacular architecture have only occasionally resulted in

systematic

surveys of all

oS

the standing buildings in a srnall town, individual

buildings have been published, and

a

growing number have been dated by

dei~clrochronolo~gy.l'hcrc are some very useful studics in which the analysis of a

standing building has been combined with excavations around and inside the

structure.'

Historians have similarly made advances in their studies of small towns. In

I 985 Hilton had just produced a serics of chapters and articlcs which showed that

they were an important dimension of urbanization, and were closely conrlectcd to

thc peasantry of the surrourldirlg countryside."ince then historians have

contributed dctailcd studies of half-a-dozen well-documented places, and overviews

of small towns ill Britain and continental Europe.Io

In the last sixteen years the subject of small towns has beer1 pushed forward by

archaeologists, architectural historians, geographers and historians, and thc

purpose of this synthesis is to take account of work in these difl'ercnt fields, while

llighlighting the archaeological contribution. As always, the interdisciplinary path

is not an easy one, and sometimes coordinating written and material evidencc

poscsprol~lems.Defining a town is an old conundrum, which still causes difficulties

(see below), but to add to the dilemmas, how do we distinguish those which were

'small'? Historians use a rule of thumb that a small town has

a

population below

2 , 0 0 0 ,

which is not always easy to apply when we lack precise population figures,

and somc towns appear in diffcrent documents sometimes ahove the figure, and

somctimcs below. There is no agrecd way of defining smallness in tcrms of the

material cvidcncc, although a 'bundle of criteria' is suggested below.

The disciplines are fortunately not separated. Archaeologists who work

on

urban sites with historical records of thc ~ r ? t l i ~ g t henturies naturally take note of

documents. Historians of this sukject arc not so conversant with the material

'' 'l'hr n r \ ~\osL is conv cl~i c~it lyun~rnar i~cdn

T.R .

Sl;ltcr, 'Urldrrstaircliirg thr Innrlscapc ofrocvns', 9 7

- 1 08,

l l

U. EIookc (cd.) , Lnnil\tnfie: 711c l? ir /r ~\ /li~/tiricc~irrord (Kir rnin ~har u,

0 0 0 .

H.

S.

1.

Fox, 'hlctlic\al url~ali c\'clopmcnt', 424

:;I i l l

R . K;tili ancl \\ . Ka\enhi ll ( cd \. ), 117 ~ l i \ / o ~ ~c c ~ / ~ l / / c ~~

Jbi,t /~-ll i,\/ ~rg/,z~rdE xc ~e r, C ) ~ ) ) ;. \Ilad~-hl;l~-tjriscd. ). zlrr Flitto,-L.d .ltln\ ~f.V?~ /o/k 2nd ccl.. Nor\ \ic li, I


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8 8 C H R I S T O P H E R D Y E R

evidence, but they set the small towns in a context of urban developmcnt, and can

show thcir significance in later medieval society. Small towns wcrc numcrous,

with 600 in England at any one time betwee11 I

2 7 0

and 1525, and

7 0

at their pcak

of development in Wales. They account for about

i

er cent of all nucleated

scttlcmcnts, hut because they cach gave a living to more people than most villages

(most of

them had populations of at least

300

hey contained almost a tenth of the

whole population. Thc 50 large towns together housed at least 400,ooo people,

with about the samc number in small towns. 'l'hcy provided points of contact

between country people and thc wider world, as marketing centrcs, as placcs of

employment, as venues for gatherings fbr religious dcvotiorl or entertainment, and

as magnets for migrants. Small towns provided the first stage on the path of those

hoping for social lxtterment. IT towns had an influcrlcc on the material culture of'

the countryside, for example by spreading the hshion for jctticd timl-~er-Sramcd

houses in thc I 5th century, the builders and tllcir employers would in many cases

have seen their modcls in small towns. The imported or rnarlufacturcd goods that

were hcirlg uscd in the countryside, such as dried cod, dyestuffs or copper-alloy

dress accessories, were obtained from market stalls or shops in small towns, or

pedlars based

on

such towns.

We are dealing with small placcs with large consequences, for which there is

a11 abundance ol'archaeological evidcnce. propose to discuss this material under

four themes: firstly, origins; secondly, definitions and characteristics in relation to

the urban hierarchy; thirdly, S~~nctionsnd diversity; and fourthly, long-term

changes.

ORIGINS

'lhc origins ofall towns present us with the same problems, regardless of their

size, and of course every town was small for at lcast a short time.

Churches,

local

centres ofpower (such as king's tuns and the centres of hundreds), and fortifications

havc a11 been identified as

pre-url- an

nuclei'. 'The Burghal Hidage, with its lists of

fortifications that had grown up in thc latc 9th century to protect the kingdom of

Mressex, includes the burhs which served as embryos from which m?jor urban

centres such as Winchester and Southampton grew. Axbridgc (Somcrsct), C;ric:k-

lade (Wiltshire) and nlany more burhs reappear in later centuries as small towns,

a i d occasiorlally, as in rccent work at South Street in Wiltoil (Wiltshirc), there is

cxcavatcd evidcnce for occupation in tllc 9th or 10th centuries.12 'The list of small

towns associated with fortifications expands when the later phases of burh

foundations outside Mlesscx, such as Newark (Nottingharnshire) and Towcester

(Northamptonshire) are takcn into account, and wc need to remember the lesser

military sites which can he discovered mainly I'roin their topography, such as

C:.

l)ycr., 'S n~ ;~l ll ,~cc\

\-ill1

1;ir.g~ ol~srcl~~clrcs: t l ~ rlrll)ol-t;inc.cof' \rnall ~o \\ ns

n

I rn~ l ,~n t l ,o o o

5

o . I I i \ / .

R?\ 7 (x ) ,

24.

I L J

Hasla~ll ctl.),

A l ? ~ ~ q / i ~ - S i ~ i o nf i ~ n , ~ ? ,I .~oirI/~c?nlram

ant1 K.

cagvr S~ ni ~l i ,Rxc a~~ tio lrs IVilto~i,1995 i:t.,Jolln'\ l-lospi~al

nd

South Strcct',

T l i \ z i i r

l i i l iu~ol .Zh/. Hi\l. .\/(I,?..

q

( 2 0 0 0 ) . I

8 20 1.


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90


S~ cy ii ng , ushcx.

A

prr - ( :o~ i t~~~c .s t0\111 is i~ l d i ~ ~ i ~ c c i

y

tlir si~c.s

I - ~ L I I I ( ~

hr ~~i i l i s ic r.hi~rcli,vitli ;L IIC\V ~o\ vii 1'

thr I 2tl1 an d 13th c.cniurira alo11g t l ~ r igli S tr rr t. So11rc.r~:hI. (;artiirler, 'Exc.a\~ttior~st 'I'(-s~rrs,White Ho1.h~

Sclunrc, S tcyning, 1985', L S u s s ~ x ~ 4 r ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / .,'011., 12G (ISUU), 3 7 6 ; Gnrdincr a n d C:rcaiorcx, op. cir. in notc 15.

houses was laid out along the High Street (Fig. ~).' l'rowhridgc in Wiltshirc

devclopcd next to a

I

eth-century castle, but the castle was preccdcd by a manorial

site and stone church which functioned in the 10th and

I

1t11 ccnturics. '

Apparently new post-Conqucst castlcs wcrc somctimcs foundcd on thc sites of

important pre-Conquest rcsidcnccs and ccntrcs of administration, so the towns

which arc conveiltionally assumed to have grown around the castle in the I sth

ccntury or later may have had an carlicr hcginning. The prc-urban settlement

could have had a primarily rcononlic function. The hcst explanation lor the thick

deposits of millions of oyster shells from the 10th and I

I

th centuries fourld at Poole

in Dorset is that the shellfish were being processed, probably by pickling, on the

~ H A ~ ~ : L ~ T I ,

I

hlirlrllr S;IXUI~ru11s ~ r ~ c l t i ~ ~ gitc at 1


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T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M E D I EV A L S M A LL T O W N S

9

shore before the town was foundcd.18 Other small ports developed near to

traditional coastal sitcs for extracting salt or catching fish.

At some places the prc-urban settlement cannot be fitted into the categories of

religious, administrative, military or economic centres. In Surrey at Godalming

8th- to 9th-century occupation, continuing until the 14th ccntury, has been located

on the edge of the later medieval town, at some distancc from the church.' Perhaps

the town grew from a coalescence of early farmsteads or hamlets, or this early sitc,

in view of the relative abundance of pottery found, was a high-status scttlemcnt

that had some influence on subsequent urban growth.

A degree of discontinuity during the period 650-900 is suggested

by

the recent

discoveries of 'productive sites'. These concentrations of coins and metal work of

the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries are now often fbund in open country, remote from

medieval or modern towns. Their location sometimes at road junctions or river

crossings supports the suggestion that they were periodic markets or fairs, which

failed to establish themselves as centres of cxchange in the long term. At Riby

Cross Roads (Humbcrsidc, formerly Lincolnshirc) and Cottam

(N.

Yorkshire

formerly Yorkshirc ER) the productive sites proved to have been associated with

dwellings, though these were soon abandoned: they were as unstable as many rural

settlements of that period. A small port at Sandtun in Kent stands as an example of

a coastal trading settlement which was active from 700 to 875 and then declined. '

So alongside

the small towns like Daventry and Steyning which had a long-term

role as 'central places' w h i c h have been called the 'primary towns' there were

also commercial venues of the 7th and 8th centuries which went out of use in the

9th century or soon

afterward^.^

Turning to the towns that appear to have been new in the 12th and 13th

centuries, the documcnts tend to tell an incomplete story because we learn from

thcm about the successful urban ventures. Many of the foundations however failed,

leaving traces in the ground but not in documcnts. At Ovcrsley in Warwickshire

the locally powerful Boteler hmily in the mid-12th ccntury laid out two roads

outside the gates of their castle with rectangular plots along thcm defined by ditches

(Fig.

2) .22

The two roads joined the castle to Ryknild Street, a route with Roman

origins which connected the Cotswolds, the Avon valley and the woodland of the

Arden; a chapel was built beside this road. The animal bones suggest that this was

a centre

of

consumption rather than agricultural production. This initial planning,

on a small scale, was perhaps to be succeeded by further stages if it attracted

enough settlers. Some tenants built on their plots, and one was used for a malt kiln,

I . P. Horsry andJ hf. M'indcr, 'Late S axon and Coriqucst-period oystrr rniddrns at Poole, Ilo rsr t', 1 0 2 1

n

G . L. Good,

R. H.

Jotics and

M

W. Potlsf'ord (eds.), LVatefronti11-rlza~olu~CBA Res. Rep., 74, ry lr ).

'

R. Poulton, 'Excavations on thr Co-operative MTholesalcpre mis o at Bridgc St rc c~ . odalming', L S i ~ : i - r ~> ~ i l r ~ h i l ~ ~ ~ ~ l .

Coil., 85 (iggH), 187 2 0 7 .

' K Ulmschn ridrr, 'Scttle rnrnt, econom y and tllc productiv r sitc: Middle Anglo-Saxon 1.incolnshil-c A.11.

650-780', AlediPual d~ c/ ia~o l. ,

LIV

(2000), 53-7?; J.

D.

Richards rt al., 'C:ottairi: a n Aiiglian and :\riglo-

Scandinavian scttlcrnrrlt oil the Yorkshire wolds ilrchueol. J .

156 (rylg) ,

r I

10;

M

Garditlcr,

R.

C:ross.

N.

Macphrrson-Grant ant1

I.

Kiddler, 'Cor rti~ irnt al radr arid non-url)an ports i11 mid-Anglo-Saxon F:ngland:

excavations at LSandtun,Wcst Hyt hr , Kent', ilrclzauol.

J.,

158, (200

), I

6 I

-290.

A. Everitt, '71'lic primary towns of Er idand' , 9 3 1 0 7 in idem, I,czndtcap(,anrl Comnzunzty in E : i ~~ /an d( I ,o ~~ do i~ ,985).

?

C :

Jo ne s r t al., 'Excavations ill the out er cnclosurc of Rotcler's Castlr, O\rci-slry, Alcrslr r, 10g2-g3',

f if172 .

Rilmiri,yharn Wam~ickrhi~rrclzacol. .Sue. CI ( I

997)

1-98.


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9

2

C H R I S T O P H E R

D Y E R

a

0,

1-1

Castle

\

\

.

Conjectural reconstruction

ropmarks of ditches

Excavated and observed evidence

Defensive ditches and majo r boundaries

Building

Boundaries of tenem ents

Burial

0 100 200m

Boundary ditches excavated)

F I G.

Botelcr s Cztstlr, Ovcrslry, \/\Tarwickshire.

A

p la n ne d s c t t l r m r n ~ l thc I 2th cen tury ad joining a cast le . a) depicts

the cxcavatrd ant1 ohscrv rd cvid cncr . h ) is a c :o~ l jr ctu ra l e c ons tr uc ti on o l t ll c bounda r i e s o l t ll c s c ~ t l c r n ~ ~ l t

c I

180.

Sou rce: ,Jonrs al . , op. ci t. in no tr 22.

but not all of them have evidence for occupation, and the settlement was

abandoned in the early I gth century. Alcester, I 5 m to the north, developed into

a successful markct town near a small monastery, and at the junction of roads with

Ryknild Street, with two river crossings.

In the same county at Dassett Southend a new town was founded a t the end of

the

I

:jth century, which achieved a modest g r ~ w t h . ~ouses were closely set along

a street called Nrwland in urban style, and a smithy represents craft activity. It had

links with N. Warwickshire, from which roofing slates and pottery were brought.

The documents mention artisans and traders, and refer to a markct hall, but the

main evidence for its urban character comes from excavations. It was well sited

near a junction of main roads, a t some distance from existing towns, but its

relatively late foundation, on the eve of the I 4th-century crisis, probably prevented

it from establishing its place securely in the urban network.

3

C.

Dyer, l t ic hidt lcr~ rad r

of the

Midd le Ages: rvid rncc frorri the W est Midland s of Engl-land ,J.

IIzct

Geo~q.

8

(199 )~141-57.


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T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M E D I E V A L S M A L L T O W N S

9

3

These two examples show lords experimenting with fbundations, establishing

new towns within the hinterlands of existing towns, and attracting some artisans

and traders, but did not succeed because of the unsuitable site (at Ovcrslcy) and

the late date (at Dassett). Many other examples of failures in the r ath and 13th

centuries could be giver1 a number of towns near to castles did not flourish, such

as Almondbury W.Yorkshire) and Skipsea (N.Yorkshire, formerly Yorkshire ER),

for which the evidence is documentary and topographical rather than from

e x ~ a v a t i o n . ~ ~n age of urbanization was clearly also a period of decayed towns, or

at least of nascent towns nipped in the bud. They tell us about the limitations on

the powers of lords, and the turbulence of the period of growth, when only thc

fittest survived. The number of failures is difficult to calculate, because we can only

hope to stumble on them by chance.

In the successful new towns the material evidence reveals some of thc

complexities behind the process of town foundation. Stratford-upon-Avon (War-

wickshire) is often regarded by historians as the archetypal plantcd town, with its

charter of

I

196, and meteoric growth in its first halS-century to become one of the

four largest towns in its ~ o u n t y . ' ~I'opographical analysis shows that it was planned

at its inception in a grandiose style, with a grid of strects occupying a large section

of

a

former arable field, and incorporating the earlier main roads which would

bring trade into the town (Fig. 3). The charter of

I

196 fixed the size of the burgagc

plots at 3.5 by

I 2

perches, or approximately

60

by 2 0 0 feet (18m by

Go

m). As it

grew, the building plots at its prime points of sale were subdivided in response to

commercial pressures. Civic buildings of the I 3thk15th century demonstrate the

prosperity and confidence of the fraternity which established its prcsence near the

edge of the built-up area, on the street which led to the parish church. Limited

excavation shows that within the area laid out in

I I 96

the first phases of occupation

belonged to the 13th century. As yet there is no evidence, either documentary or

archaeological, that any informal settlement or periodic market had signalled to

the lord that this was a propitious site for a town. Pottery of the I ~ t hnd 12th

centuries has been found in 'Old Town', the village that pre-dated the plantcd

town. 'The outer plots of the planned town may never have been occupied, and

in

I

251-2 a survey shows two individual tenants holding more than a dozen

holding each, which they could have been using as paddocks and gardcns.

The medieval planning process has left clear material evidence at a number

of towns he ditches dug to mark the boundaries of the burgage plots have beer1

found at Dorchcster (Dorset), Hedon (Humberside, formerly Yorkshire ER) and

Newport (Pcmbrokeshire). But the plan did not always materialize as swif ly and

r~formationrom D r Oliv rr


10/30

STRATFORD UPON AVON

.

orough boundary

from metrological

'/.

Floodable

me dows

Market cross

F I G

Siratford -upon-Awl, \.\Tar\\-ickshirc. Thc p1;inned io\vri

of'

I 196,sl~on,ingites of'rxcava~ions nd observatio~is.

Sources: Bearman,

op. c i t .

in notr

26 ;

S. Crackncll, ' Eard's Walk , IVootl Street, Stratfi~rtl-upon-Avo11,

medieval structurch cxcavarcd in

I

989', Tmns. Birmingl~amM/arre~ickshire~l~rIrauol.oi., 97 (19~1

2 ,

57-75; idrm,

';\rchaeological exca\raiion

at

thc Rliriorics, Sirat ford-upon-A\,ol~',Trans. Birmin,~hamMurzuztk~hireArcl~aeol.

Sor.

98 ( I ) C J ~ - ~ ) ,61 7

devrloper reports a1 \$'ar~vickshire Mtlscum Field Archaeology Unil .


11/30


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5

C H R I S T O P H E R DYER

F I G 4

Dorc hrst cr, Dorhct. Exca\ration

in

(>rcyhound Yard showrtl that

a

group of tenrmcnts facing o ~ io Uurrlgatr

wcrc 1;iid our

c

1 2 0 0 Th e town hat1 developed

in

the prc-(~oiicluestestate ofFi~rdington, ith housrs initi;llly

built alonx

TIigli

Stsrrt and

South

Street. I he Uurrlga~c rvrl oI) ~rl r~i tas a planned cxtrrlsion oftlrc 13 th

crntury. Source: Wood\vard, Davics and Gra ham ,

011

cit. in note

7;K .

Penrl,

Historic 7ui~jn.sn Uorret

(L)orchester, 1980 .

were filled quite slowly. A site near

St

Mary s church on thc edge of another famous

I ath-century plantation, Dcvizes in Wiltshire, produced no material carlier than

the late I gth century. At Hcdon plots in tllc southcrn part of thc town were taker1

up gradually in the I ath and I

11

ccnturies, and then abarldoncd after a century

or so. Of the thrcc plots excavated at Newport (Pcmbrokeshire)which was fbunded

in c. I

197

two werc occupied at an early stage, but a third (building 3) was

corlstructcd some decades after its neighbours, though still within the I gth ccrltury

(Fig.

5).

;

The chequered history oP the new towns suggests the complexity of the

dialogue between the lord and the inhabitants. The lord saw an opportunity at a

site where roads mct, near a church or some othcr point of attraction, preferably at

' '

hl.

IZussrll, Exc.;r\-a~ions t New

Park

Stl-cct, I)cvizcs,

rogo ,

CISl/shirr

i l~ r l~ (1~01 .

NuI

his^.

Atla~y.

fi

( I ~ D R ) ,

8 8

or ;

Habtirld

ant1

Sl;rtcr,

op.

cit. ill notc. 27 16 rg; Murphy,

op

cik.

in notc 27 .


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T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M E D IE V A L S MA LL T O W N S

97

xcavated site

FIG. r

Ncwport Pcrnhs.) .A srrni-schc matic p lan I)asecl

on

a r e r ~ t ; ~ l

f

1-134.Tl1c, town p la n d a t c s f r o m t1 ~ .a t r

I

ntli

c.cr1Lur.y. Th e dr\ ~e lop nic nt fl)uildings

on

the th rce cscavarcd p lots , will1 f m ~ r )hascs itliiri tllr

I

3th century,

is also shown. Sou rcc: Mur pliy , op cit. ill notc-

27


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g8 C H R I S T O P H E R D Y ER

or near a place where unofficially people already gathered to exchange goods. A

market would be fouildcd, privileges granted, roads diverted, and plots measured

and rented out. Settlers had to be attracted and wooed. They could not be

compelled to take up plots. They calculated thc advantage, and occupied a plot,

but if the town did not take off, they would move to a more promising place. A

flourishing town emerged through the combination of initiatives by both lords and

the townspeople. Their interactions help to explain the fickleness of the archaeolo-

gical evidence ometimes a plot was never occupied, sometimes it had a house

built on it which was quickly abandoned, and sometimes it was continuously

occupied from the early stages of the town's existence until recent times.

DEFINITIONS AND CH AUC TE RIS TIC S

Thc theme oP definitions can be introduced now that origins have been

considered, as the characteristics of a town cannot be recognized until it had been

established.

How can small towns be distinguished from large villages? Historians

emphasizc occupational diversity, so that even the 60 or I oo households of a very

small town would have made their livings from twenty separate occupations. Such

a variety of trades and crafts would not be apparent from the archaeological

evidence. Even after a number of excavations and observations at Farnham in

Surrey traces were found of only four different craft^.^ Th e material evidence can

reveal occupations which do not appear in the documents: bone-working, flax-

processing and the making of stone artehcts such as mortars, but many common

urban trades, like thosc of the tailors and the mercers, usually leave no trace in the

ground. In others, such as baking and brewing, production for the market cannot

always be easily distinguished from domestic preparat ion of food and drink.

Perhaps the best way to identify towns in terms of material culture is to

recognize a distinctively urban use of space: high densities of buildings; rows of

houses closely packed along street frontages; narrow plots behind the houses;

peculiar strcct patterns including the accommodation of market places in front of

church doors, at the convergence of streets, or in deliberately widened main streets.

The character of the town becomes even clearer if buildings survive, because they

crcatcd a thrce-dimensional space which must have made entering a town a special

experience. Certainly in the Midlands and north until the end of the Middle Ages

towns were the only communities with large numbers of two-storey houses. The

wcaldcn house with its combination of open hall and two-storey end bays,

commonplace in Kent and the adjoining counties in both town and country, in the

W. Midlands was concentrated in t~wn s.~ om e small-town buildings arc identical

with those in larger centres: a corner shop of three storeys with both upper floors

jetticd, which can be seen facing the market place at Axbridge in Somerset, would

have been incongruous in anything hut an urban context.3g Excavations and

P. Brooks, P. Parks. N.

Kiall, K.

F'oulto~ialid D. Graham, 'Errnli;tm', Su i -~PJ Irrl~arol.Cull., 85 ( 998), 97- 157.

H S.

K.

Joncs alidJ. '1'. Smith, 'Thr wraldrn

lrousrs

of War\.vickshirc

and

their sigr~ifica~lce',

? C 1 7 ~ 5 Birmznglzam

.-lrchnunl. S ni.. 79 (1900 I) ,24-35.

,1. c;r.cn\~illr,

fedi?r,ul fIi~u.\~ u,y

I.eiccstcr, I 9~97, 18

6.


15/30

T H E A K C I I A E O L O G Y O F

M E D I E V A T ,

S MA LL T O W N S

99

documents tell us ahout a negative cffcct of the high density of urban scttlemcnts,

the occasional catastrophic fires. The closely packed timber buildings adjacent to

many hearths, kilns and ovens in towns nladc thcm more vulnerable than villages

to this typc of di ~ast cr .~

Towns can be con~paredwith other scttlcments with potcntial town-like

qualities, such as the industrial village of Lyvedc1-1 in Northamptoiist~ire.~~he:

houses werc associated with pottery and tilr kilns, workshops anci iron Surnaces,

hut tllc ljuildings were of peasant typc, and werc widcly spaced as would be

expcctcd in a rural settlement. Thc craIis were being combincd by the inhabitants

with agriculture, and the trnant of one excavated

house

was apparcntly committed

solely to agriculture for part of the 15th century, which would not have been an

easy option i11 many small towns. I11 short, 1,yvcden lacks urban characteristics.

More problematic arc the trading settlements scattered around thc countryside,

some of thcm villages with chartered markets and market places, which t~ ca r

topographical similarity to small towns, though their houses are often not arranged

with urban compactness. At King's Norton (West Midlands, formerly Worccstcr-

shire) in tllc latcr Middle Ages an unofficial market was hcld on land to the south

of the large chapel, now called the Green, which was surrounded by houses

recorded as substantial in the early I 6th century (Fig. 6).'% number of timber-

framed houscs were still standi~lgnto the 20th century. One house facing on to the

Green which did not survive has bccn excavated. It was occupied in thc

I

3 t h 1 4 t h

centuries, and its plan and construction resembled that of a rural dwelling, but the

pottery used by the inhabitants came from a wide variety of production centres,

and included an unusual range of forms, suggesting close contacts with marketing

networks.

O n the edge of some small towns were concentrations of irldustrial activity,

almost industrial zones. At Rrcwood in Stafliordshire a timher and stone platform

in use between the I 3th and I 5th ccrlturics next to a stream was associated with

t~arrels et in the ground containing remains of hark and hemp, presumably from

tanning and thc procrssing of fihres for roprs or coarse liner^."^ Near the Wiltshirc

town of Malmcsbury finds of slag, at1 intensively used hearth, a channel for a mill,

and bones apparently discarded by tanners suggested to thc

excavators

that the site

had l ~ccn sed for different industries from the

I

0th ccntury until recent times.-

Urban industries were bascd on the houscs, yards and outbuildings of the artisans,

but the more noxious tradcs, such as tannino tended to hc grouped on the edge of

?,

the town, near water, and somc processes sp ~lt ver into suburban open spaces.

Botanical research provides another means fbr assessing the role of a town in

relation to its rural surroundings. 'lhi s has been den~orlstrixtccli-orn environmental

4 E.g.

a t K ;n vt r ): I ) u n k lcy :untl C:~ ~~ i r l j c~ -~ j a tc .h .p . c ir . in

nol

2 0

18.

' , J . 11 S t r a n c

LIICI C;

I . I%r . ) ;~n l .B ~ c , i \ a t i o n s

11

t l i c r lcsc~ .~cc lncclicv ;t l s c~ tt lc mrn l t I , \cclc~t ' , ,7.l'it/i~nitt,/)/oii

211~~wiirrt>I11 (i(i//rr~'.

2 ( I 75 .

' % . , J o ~ i c s . S. R,l tk,~ i :inel P . Elli s, 'Rxca\.;rti ~li.;

L L

n o .

1 5 ,

T h r ( ;I -r cn , K i n g s N o ]

(011. 1cjy2' .

'11(1n>. Hi,~~iir~ ,yiirm z

kt7r,i h,1/~it~~ l i ~ ~ l i ( ~ ~ o / .SOI

.

0 4 (2 0 0 0 ) .

I I )

2

I .

I

l i t i l l

i

I t ~ r t i l .

B o o

o / i : l i r o / i i l , y / .

2

(U i l .mi~ ig l i ; t~ r~l ni \, rr si ~ 17ic.ld ~ l ~ - c . h a c o l o ~Tnit, post- rxc ;~\rat i onasc .s t i i r l l ( a t it1 l .c \carcl i dvsig li , 2001) .

(:.

I .

:u~-l-ic,F ,u . ;~ \ ;~ t io n sr t h ( . P o s t r r n

nlill

i t r . h l ; ~ l l n c \ l ~ ~ ~ r -y1)8(i

X i .

I l i / t . th iu~. Ir t i i i~~~o/ .

,Yo/. II i\ /.

\In ..

8

(1


16/30

I CHR I S T O P I I E K DY E R

Mafn 2 th century

boundaries

TH

GR N


17/30

T H E

A R C H A E O L O G Y 01'

M E D I E V A L

S M A L I ,

T O W N S

I 0

1

cvidcncc from Storlc in StalTordshire and Cowl~r idgcn the Vale oS Glarnorgan.+

At Stone a site quite near to the latcr town centre in its prc-urban phasc had the

characteristics of a homogcncous environment on the banks of a stream with pond

wccd, sedge and other appropriate plants. From the 12th century onwards as thc

small town grcw the plant rcnlains were transfornmed with tElc addition oS spccies

rcprcsentativc of a widc variety of rural landscapes ornfields, heaths, pastul-es

and woodlands. Much of this material had been brought in fronl a distance, to

satisfy the denlands of urban consumers for corn, straw, hay, I~ rackcn , irewood

and rushcs. The products of cultivation and gathcrinz would also have come as

raw materials fbr urban manufacturers, like the flax ancl hemp which appears

among the plant remains. Sonie exotic spccics, such as grapcs and figs, werc

importcd to be sold to better-olr town dwellers, and to country people \7isiting the

market. The faunal evidence confirmed this picture of an environmental trans-

formation, from water hcctles only in the pre-urban phasc, to beetles which lived

in the town's wooden buildings,

granaries

and dung. Plant finds at C:owhridgc

came from the fill oSa ditch, dated to the mid-

I

3th century, in an early phase of the

town's growth. They show that the town was in contact with

a

range of rural

habitats, from marshes, arable, grassland, moors or heaths and woods, and some

of tllc wccds came from the new local habitats crcatcd by the townspeople, such as

gardcns and patches of disturbed ground. l ' hc towns were both cllangiri(7 their

a

own cnrrironments, arid servirlg as hubs, unifying their hinterlands and acting as

channels of communication between rural economies. 'This role as centres of

exchange benefited the towns but also stimulated production and specialization in

thc nearby countryside. The presence of foreign fruits at Stone and other srnall

towi~s eminds us that as well as satisfying basic needs, towns werc educating the

tastcs of thcir customers, arid cnabling them to extend their horizons. Even in the

middle oSStaffordshire, clitcs could irnagirlc themselves as part of

a

Mediterraiican

culture.

'l'opography, matcrial culturc and cnvironmcnt help us to distinguish small

towns from other scttlcments, but how call we tell tllc difference between small and

large towns, or er7c11 dcfine clilfercnt gradations within the range o f small towns?

Table I lists bcnchrnarks that can Ile used to locate towns within an url~an

liicrarchy. 'lhc first column gives the criteria in general terms, such as sizc of

population, social structure and occupations; the second indicates some of the

llistorical cvidcnce that can bc uscd to establish these criteria, like the tax

assessments that can act its

a

proxy fix precise population figures; the third column

suggests the material cvideiice which throw light on thc critcria for all towns, and

the I'ourth column singles out tlic material cvidcncc commonly found in srnall

towns.' 'l'lle contents oSthe Sourth column, take11 ogether, amount to a bundle of

characteristics which

can

be used to identify a small town in terrns of its nlatcrial

remains.

+- ; HLI~IICS.l , k : ~ \tioms ui tl ~i ~i1 ~iic-(lir\1 < L I I ~o\~-rnrdir \I ~ V I ~ C I I I C I ~ ~

~otir , yl :3~,7i111i \. ,S(J~ I~/ IS / ( i f l ( ~ r ( l \ / ~ ~ i t

. ~ I ( / I I ~ ( , I I / .

1~ \1.

So .,

yij

( I ) < ) ~ >

j ) ,

5 3

1 ~ 1 1 ;

~ ~ l < l ~ o ~ i s ( ~I I IC IE \ : I I I ~ ,

1 .

cit. in llrllv

:35


18/30

1 0 2 C H R I S T O P H E R D Y E R

IJIIK AN I l l b M K C H Y IN

1

IE 1 14 ER 1LIII)I)l,L AC ES Bb NC H hl hK KS II)EKI\ ING FKOR1

DOC UME NTA RY AND hTA

I

bRIAL EVIDENCE

C:HARACTERTSrl lCS DOCUh4EN I:4RY TLIATF KIAL EVIDENCE MATERI;\L EVIUENCZE

EVILIENCX (all towns) (srr~all

O \ V I I ~ )

I

Populatior~ izr No of liousrs, burgesses, Sizr of l~uilt -up rea; la rg er than most

burgagc plots (I)omcsday, suburljs; plan units; vi1lagc.s; I plan rlnits;

1PMs); no. oftaxpaycrs; ofs tr-ceta oc.casio11a1 uburl )

tax asrrrsmelitr

2. Social structure, Tax re(.ords (c.g. I 381, Houbcs of varyi~lg

i

k \ v liousrs ant1

C.S.mrrcllants, 521-5); tlcrtls a n d size arltl qualit?.: ar tc f~ ct s f high

grn lry , art isar~s , survrya; wills artefacts indicative status

scrvarlts of ~ i r icc l eal111 a11t1

statur , ir~cluding lite

3.

Occupations Prc- I 350 sur~~ariies;38

1

C:r;ilis and tradrs 1,imitcd caricty of

1x111 tax and 1522 mili tary indic;rtccl by low st at ~ls rafts; somr

survey; 1)orough c.ourt structures, irr~plcrilrrits,

agric.ulturr;

records; guild rcgistcrs; and drljris; luxury specialization

possible;

fi-crrnc.11 ~cgi~trrs goocls matlc a ~ ~ t lratlctl inns

q . Markets, outlets, Royal ch;rrtcrs; court rolls; hla rkc t places, hl arkr t plac c somrtin~cs

custonicrr liouseholtl accourlt~ subclivitirtl, aliops n-it11 pecialist ar ras;

autl seltls sorne bliopr

5. Hinter lauds Ilchts in c.ourt records, 1listril)ution of A range ofcon tacts of

I~orltls tc.; ~niar atiori pottery, I)uildi~lg li~nit ctlcope c.g. f rw

~~a t t r rns f ro r r~xr -1350 rr1atcria1a rtc. ovrrscas imports

surnarnrs; purchases in

tow11 ancl courrtry

6. C:cntr;ll place Royal and cl~urc lr ccords C:;lstlrs, catlrccirals, Parish cllurcll or a c.llapcl;

func.tio~l\, ovrrn- rnollastcrirs, cl~urc llcs, cha ritr ic~ ; ospital 01.

nient, religious scl~ools, ospitals, almshouses

institutions Giarics

7.

S(~lf-governrncn t, Borough and fi-atcrnity

Public buildings, Guildhall; paved strrcts;

civic. consciousnc\s archivrs, c.llurcl i~vardcns

fiaternity Ijuildir~gs, I)ridgc; rul)ljis l~lisposal

L I C C O I I ~ ~ S

watrr supply, bridges,

rubbish disposal

I .

Most small towns contained between 50 and qoo houses, but discovering the

number depends on medieval

documents

or counting the plots visible on early

maps. Topographical analysis will reveal a limited number of plan units ,

sometimes only onc, and rarely more than five. A small town sometimcs stimulated

thc growth oSa suburb, either a new settlement, or a village which developed town-

like characteristics like Rellgeworth near Evesham (Hcrcford and Worcester,

formerly Worcestcrsllire), to mention one oS the few wherc

excavations

havc taken

place.47This is a rather technical way of making the obvious point that small towns

had a limited capacity Sor physical growth.

2

Small towns did not have a large number of high-status houses appropriate Sor

merchants or gentry. A fcw havc been rcco gn i~ ed n excavations, at Altorl

H .

i)al\+,ood, Thc ar.clracology

of

\mall t o n n

in

\t orcc\tcrshir(~ .

finrr,.

I l b l t r s i r ~ ~ l ~ i ~ c .rtitcrrul. Sol. 3rd \cr.. 17

(2000), 15-2 I


19/30

T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M ED I EV A L

S M A L L

T O W N S

103

(Hampshire),Windsor (Berkshire), and Seaford (S~ssex).~"omeare still standing,

such as the house of the Paycocke family (clothiers) of c. 500 at Coggcshall in

Essex, or Willam Grcvile's house at Chipping Clampden (Glouccstcrshirc) (he was

a woolmonger at thc end of the 14th century). In the same way that these larger

houses stand out among the hundreds of commorlplace two-storey (or wealden)

houses of two or thrcc bays, so among the usual low status and unremarkablc small

finds an isolated luxury object suggests a wealthier inhabitant, such as

the 14th-

century mirror and case found at Monmouth. Occasional finds of the bones of

hawks, as at Ripon

(N.

Yorkshirc), show that at least

a

Cew townspeople could

aspire to elite

pastime^.^"

q.

The number of occupations in small towns is most fully indicated hy

documents, and some of these, such as smithing, butchery and leatherworking,

have bccn noted frequently in excavations. We would not expect to find evidence

for the more specialized and high-status crafts, such as brass-founding, which were

more commonly practised in high-order ccntrcs. Some service occupations were

common to towns of all sizes, and inns were a characteristic feature of all towns on

main roads, which have been identified from standing buildings rather than

excavation^.^'

l i e rightly think of small towns as having many everyday trades and

crafts, to cater fhr the varied mundane needs of its local but not very wealthy

c,ustomers, but some developed a specialism for a wider market. Saffron cultivation

at Walden in Essex would be difficult to detcct Crom material evidencc alone, but

the limestone quarries near to the town ccntrc oSWalsall (Staffordshire) reflect that

town's reputation as a ccntrc for lime bu rn i i~g .~ '

4.

All towns had market placcs, but in small towns the space was limited, and

often this activity was concentrated in a single main street, though some complcx

subdivisions are known.

5.

We would expect to find that thc traders of small town? had a more limited

range of contacts, and dealt in commodities over shortcr distances, than those

located in larger ccntrcs.

A

minor port town like Seaford had a lower proportion of

imported pottery of the I 3th and 14th centuries than contemporary Southampton,

though at Poole as much as 5 per cent of the pottery had been imported from

overseas. Ports also obtained some of their pottery and building materials (and no

doubt other less durable goods) from coastal trade.j2 In inland towns, both small

and large, most of the pottcry was brought from nearby centres of manufacture,

C. I .Chrrir, ;Irchacological recording ;it :( j y High Strcct, illtoll. Harnl~shirc' . Innr/~ .~/~il- rS/udc..

5

I??) )).

90 I O I ; lawkcs ; I I I ~Hraton,

op.

cit. in iiotr 34;

hf.

ca rtl i~ lcr , spccts ortlic history

a nd

archaeology ol mcd~cval

Scaford',

LS7~.\.\~,"x\irrhn~o .

(,'oil.,

I

3:; ( I 995). 18 ~) -

2 .

I

4.

G

l\lar\,rll (ctl.),

Irrur\l


20/30

I 04

C H R I S T O P I I E K D Y E R

and a snlallcr proportion oS w'lrcs anlc from

cx

distance. Occasionally a few dlerdj

oSimportcd pottery can be found in cvcn ,t minor inland market

6.

'Towns served as administrative and religious centres, to which people in thc

sur roundi~lg ountry went to attcnd courts, pay rents and

participate

in rituals.

Castles, official buildings, and important churches and

religious

houscs rcflcct

those functions. Small towns were sometimes foundcd at the gates of' a castle or

monastery, but those large institutions dominated thcnl rather than Sorrrlirlg part

of the town's inli-astructure. Tn small towns the charactcristic institutions would he

rcprcsented by manor houses, or structures of

a

rnore speci;tlizcd kind such as the

starlncry buildirlgs still surviving at T,ostwithiel in Cornwall, whcrc locally nlined

and smelted ti11 was stampcd and taxed. ' Most small towns had a single parish

church, or as commonly

a

chapcl which served a territory carved out of an earlier

parish. Some Fraternities huilt their owl1 chapels separate frorn thc parish church,

though in most cases the chaprl would be

accommodated

within thc church.

Urhan churches also attractccl privately cndowed chantries, of which the priests'

houses sometimes survive, as at Rridport in Dorsct. Few small towns were large

enough tojustify founding friaries

01

Augustinian houscs, but many were provided

with a small hospital or a row of'almshouses. Friaries arc said to clefinc urbanism,

but thcy scrve only as a guide to the largc towns, and minor hospitals arc a better

signal of small-scale urbanization.

7

Civic government was a feature of small towns, though on a lesser scalc than

in the largc centres. As well as guildhalls, market halls, toll booths and other

structures

associated with tnurliciyal administration, small towns equipped tliem-

selvcs, or were ecluippcd with, the infi-astructure on which their trade dcpendcd.

Poole's warehouse, the Town Cellars, is said to haw bccn used to store wool. Marly

towns wcrc resporlsible for tllc construction and maintenance of bridges and roads.

Excavations of bridges arc rare, but tllosc at Kingston-on-Than~es n Surrey

demonstrate the succession ofrebuildings and rcpairs that a major bridge required.

At Towccster- in Northamptonshire the surface of the nlairl street was paved with

limestone, perhapfin thc mid-15th century. A number of small towns reccived

royal permission to collect tolls in order to Surld the paving of strccts, and this is

one of the few indications of the quality and scale of thcsc public works.

rcmarkahlc modification of the urban space at Monmouth in the mid l a t e 1:3th

ccntury was the dumping of clay

I

m dccp over a number oftcncrncnts, raisirlg thc

level of thc buildings. 'l'his rnay have I~ccn rcsponsc to Hooding.57Excavators in a

number of towns note the dinlinishing quantities of material datal~lco the cnd of

1.9

-1 4.

' Horse), 01). cir. i ll 11o~ c 2, :{+ 8; ;. Pottcl. , " l' l ic rnc, tl ic\ ;~l x i t l ~ c nd \ \ a (c r . l ion t a t liings~o~l-u~~r~~i-Tl~iiriics ,

j

I )

ill Gootl,,joncs ;rntl I 'o~rsli~l.tl .

p.

tit.

ill 11otc

18;

:.

\Voocllicltl ;rncl

K .

C:onlon, 'T,atc tnctlic~\;il

ititl

c;II.I

T ud or \Vat li trg

St1

cc t . ' l ' n \ \c e \ t e~ - ' .

\ u I ~ ~ ~ I I I ~ / ~ ~ ~ I I ~ / I ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ / I ~ I ~ ~ I ~ .

j (1


21/30

T H E A R C H A E O L O G Y

O F

M E D I E V A L

S M A L L

T O W N S

05

the Middle Agcs, which rnay rrflcct the morc systematic disposal of rubbish in that

period.

'l'hcsc hc.rlchn~arks epend on the com1)ination ofhistoricnl, geographical and

,trchac.ological appronchcs to urban (ommunities, structures, spaces and nrtefactj.

For many archaeologists thc mo5t important c h'lrnc tcristic of small towns is thcir

lack of high-cluality archaeolog-ical cleposits. is is true. of many sites, but wnle

exca\ ations hnvc locatcd deep and well-prcjcrs~ed tructures, like thc Still site at

Peterhorotrgh (Cambridgeshire) and C:hurch Street, Rawtry. Excabntors should

not nppronch small-town sit- with unrealistic cxpcctations, because thcy wcrc

often occupicd lor

~

relatively short time, by not very alllucnt people pursuinq

mundane occupations. Mnily cxc abations producc small quantities of inforniation,

but cumulati\~elyhey can throw light on the de\ clopment of n particular town,

and everltually on url-,an jcttlcmcnts in gcncrnl.

FUNCTIONS AND DlVERSTl'Y

Attempts to characterize small towns are made dillicult by thc variety of thcir

fornls and functions. The majority had a role as the market centres for thcir

hinterlands, where a variety of produce could bc sold, and wide rarlgc of tradcd

and manufactured goods purchased. As most people who came to market werc

relatively poor peasants arid wage earners, they were requiring low key, everyday

and cheap goods and services. 111 consequcncc the townspeople could not hope to

accumulate great wealth, llencc the insubstantial structures and limited range or

pottery and artcficts on small town sites. A few placcs specialized in some local

resource, such as salt at Droitwicll (Hereford and Worcester, fbrmerly Worcester-

shire) and Nantwich (Cheshire), ron at Trelecll (Gwent, formerly Monmoutl~lshire)

and alabaster at Burton-on-Trent. Some towns devclopcd a speciality ~hrough

irlgcnuity and enterprise, such as the knives of Thaxted in Essex, for wllich tllc

town had no obvious advantage in terms of access to iron, fuel or bone fix

h a n d l ~ s . ~ '

Ports were a distinct type of small town which has attracted much archaeolo-

gical attention at Hartlepool, Pcvenscy (Sussex),Poolc, and Seafbrd. In such places

shipmild 1,oats were huilt and rcpaircd, resulting in finds of prepared boat tirnhers

of

c

I

qoo at Poolc and a dock of the

I

2th- I 4th centuries at Hartlepool (C:leveland,

formerly Co . Durham). At the same placcs ships

were

victualled, as inclicatcd by

the intensively used and plentiful ovens at Hartlcpool (Fig.

8),

and cattle hones at

I P. S l ~ ) c r r yllrtl R 1. I l i l i rna l~ ,l i i p ,Stti/. IJrtrrhnroii,yI~:l l i~ i / i~~ i~n /i ~ i i i o ~ i ~ c~ t r i , ~ ~ i ~ i i,ll~iiih~i,y(i/~I ~ I I ~

l

i ' \ (q i i /~C : ~ i ~ ~ l l > ~ . i c I ~ c .

19911); Du llkl c? ;L I IC I C : I I I I I ~ ) C I . I > ; I ~ C ~ ~ .01). ril . i ll II(>(C

2: .

' j. D. I Iu rh t, .I A l / ~ ~ / ~ i'cli~oil SII// I'~o(/rir/ioriSitc

1

I)n~i/ic'ciIi:I < ~ ~ i i z ~ i i / ~ o l i \i/ l,rc'zt/i (C:K,\ K c \ . Kc[,.. H I7. 1997 :

l i . 'R l c ~ c i l , I ' \ \ o I ~ ~ I I - ( ~ . T I ~ L I ~ )vie11

I I O I I S C Y

i l l N ; ~ t l ( \ \ i c I ~ .:hc.shil-c', .\lo(li~r'cr/Alichi~~jo/..X l ' l l

111111;). +o->


22/30

I 06


Poolc. ' Goods were carried to these ports along thc coast or frorn overseas, as is

cvident from the exotic pottery and small finds which are Sound in greater

quarltities than in inland towns.

River ports car1 also have distinctive

assemblages

of pottery, like the wares

represented a t Hcnley-on-Thames (Oxfordshire), which iiicluded the predictably

high proportion of' Oxfordshire wares, but also a good deal of pottery which had

come 1111 the rivcr from Surrey and somc from the capital. Bawtry's role as an

inland port is reflected in finds of pottery from overseas, includirlg Sairltongc

ware. Many towns relying mainly on roads scrvcd as 'gatcway' markets, by

~~rovidiiig channel of communication hetwccil contrasting rural rcgions.

l'eter1.1orough had such a role on thc cdge of the fens and near the frontier bctween

woodcd and arable landscapes, and its pottery in thc period I 25 0 1450 was

supplied mainly from the kilns of S. Tincolnshire and from Northamptonshire, arid

with some warcs from fenland sources, such as Ely (Fig. 7a). Pottery Srom more

distant centres in East

Anglia (such as the Grimston kilns) and abroad also came

along the

fcnland waterways. Inns hclp us to identily the 'thoroughfare' towns

which dcrived part of their living by

servicing

thc travellers on rnajor roads.

Small towns also varicd from rcgiorl to region, and bcttcr understanding of

these differences will tell us about the towns in relation to the local landscape and

settlement

pattern. 'Types of town plan may form clustcrs in particular regions, and

further work on house types, builcliirg materials, and timber framing may rcvcal

local peculiarities, such as the wealdens of the W. Midlands already mentioned

(p. 98). Excavations at Tynemouth in Northumberland showed that k~uildii~g

construction using earthfast posts persisted in the I gth and 14th centuries when it

was being rcplaccd by stone foundation walls and timher framing further to the

south, even as near as H a r t l e p o ~ l . ~ ~

A

remarkable local diversity emerges from distribution maps of small towns,

which wcre cspecially numerous in the south-west and in particular in Dcvon, but

rather sparse in the East Midlarrd counties, such as No tt in gh am sh ir ~. ~ owns

should be recognized as part of the wider pattern of settlement, so they stand out in

arcas of dispersed settlement in the south-east and west, but are not so distinct

among the rluclcated villages in the 'feldon' or 'champion' country of central

southern England, the Midlands and the north-cast. Th e formation of many towns

came later than the prcsumcd period of village nucleation, but the two processes

were not completely scparatc, and both

types

of scttlement formation inr~olved n

element of planning.

'

R

Daniels, 'l\lcdicv;il IIartlcpool: cvidr11c.r oS anrl li-or11 ts \\atcl.fi.ont', 43-50 in

Good,

Jones anrl PonsL)rcl.

or,. c i ~ .n nore 18,

43 5 : D. R.

ILttkins,

~ / I P + ~ ) I I I ~ ( / T ~ . :. x ((17, il /i ori \ o ~ i o oolc, I I i ~ / r / i u n / .

186-7 (I)orc lic~icr.. $)c)+),

23-43. 8 11 '191

'

C :

hlolonc), 'Rxca\ aii on ; ~r~ cl~uilclirlgur\.cy

.I(

Bell SLI -vet, c111~~y-on-Th:11rics.11rI 1Iil111l:i11,

>I>

cit. in l~ ot c 8 0-82.

i . R.

H ~ I I L .F,xca\ ,ltir)r~\

I (

' l ' y ~ i c ~ r l o ~ ~ ~ l l ,yj5'.

2-lri/i(~(,o/., I d io~i ( i . > [ I I

scs. , 25 (ly) 7) .87

I 08

I .

l.al1~11to11irlcl C . 1)vcr.. ' S~ II ;I I~o\ \~ l sn the r2isi 21r1cl vest ~~ li (l l~ i li ri \n

III -

l ; ~ i c~ -li~lrllc wcs:

,7ili.o/

Ei~, (l~iil

(2nd cd., hlacclcsficld, 2oo1).

I

11 (i.


23/30

BULKINGTON

trade contacts

1

2 km

5

1 mls

erwood

a)

P c ~ c r t j o r o n x l ~:a~iil)i-itlgcst~irc).till1 c.cr;rtiiic e\ itlcncc

hr

11.,itlc I)ct\\cc.n tli\-crsc I-rgions. Ru lk i~ ~g to li

IViltsllirc), 511o~tn: po tlrr y nlaliirig

i t w

aritl towlls likrl)

lo

11;t\.c~jl;rycd

a

rolr in d i\tl.il)u tion. Solll.cc.s:

Spocrry

i ~ ~ i c l

Til l l l ia~~ ,1). it.

l l

1io1r 8; ell ant1 D u r t i ~u n , p . i t. in ~ l o ~ r

if ,.


24/30

08


H RTLEPOOL

S t o n e f o u n d a t i o n s

o r r o b b e r t r e n c h e s

1 2 m

Hearths , ov ens , ki lns

H;rrtl(,l)ool (C:lc\,c,l;rnd. li)r.lnc,~.l) :o. D ur h;l rn ). l lrc ch an gi ng :-occltp;rtion ol tl l lc.(. c,sc.i~\ ~ r t l

I O L I \

plots ,

I ~ t l i ,ih c.criLurics. ;I) 1;11(. I gLli c.clrLllr). b) mitl-l:rl(. r+llr c.cnlur.): c I,rtc I 4 th (.:tl-ly 15111 C I I ~ U I . ) . S o u r ( . ( , :

Uariic.l\, 011. (.it. ill ~iot(.

2 .

Region'il contrasts in m,ttcri,~l u l tu~c rc high li~h tcd comparison between

thc finds from exca\lationi in \mall towns. Potter) and small finds arc rclativcly

plentiful in

the

south-cnst d11d hlidlalld\, but spar5e in 6Vclsh and nortl.lcrr1 town5

suc 1 1as Ncw Radilor (Po~vyi)nd Penrith (Cumbria , forrncrly Cuml)c.rlaild). Quite

extensive work on 'Iyncmouth yielclcd a total of only 249 shcrds of rncdicval

pottery. '

Excnvation on rural sites can give us uselul insights into thc rolc

of

towns. 1kc

flourishing of urban industry in the 0th and I I th enturirs ii well known.

Docunlcrlts tell us about the busy rural cloth industry in thc 12th and 13th

centurici, M tlicl.1 co-cxistcd with the urban industry but then strenytheried from the

mid- I 4th century onwards.

Town

nnd country indu5ti ics interacted in complicated

ways:

110th rural

'tnd

urban weaver5 deperldcd

on

country spinners, whose presence

is well attested by the hnds of spiildle-whorls around peasant houscs. Tllc c lothier5'

houscs in towni likc Coyqc\hall (Essex)rcflec t thc coordinntion of thc rural industry

by small town entreprcrlcurs, a11d i t wai from the towns that the rural clothmakers

obtnined thcir

materials,

such ai dyes, alum and oil.

Altcr a pi e-Conclucst urhan phaic, Ilottery tnanuLtc turc dcvc.1opc.d 111 thc

c ounh ysiclc. The ru rd potters had the ad\ antage of accc5\il->lc url and clay, but

urban tr,tdcrs secrn t o hake marketed tllcir wares. A recent study of

I

~ t h -o

I

Otll-

century pottery found at rural settlement at Bulkingtoli ill \Yilt\hire shows that

the \$'ires catnc rnninly from kilns at C:rocl\erton, Snvcrrlake Forest, Verwood antl

Laceritotk,

and

sni't11 quantities from hlinety (\ \i th sonlc also iroln Bath). Tlle


25/30

T H E

A R C H A E O L O G Y O F M E D I E V A L S M A L L

T O W N S

09

otters may have sold thcir warm from village to village, but the distances between

Bulkington and the production sitcs (from 15 o 50 km) nlakc it rrlore likcly that

products

wcre taken to the markct towns within

a

Sew kilornctrcs of each centre of

manufacture at Warminstcr, hlarlborough, Salisbury and R;lalrnesbury (Fig. 7b).

'l'hc pots would have hecr~

istributed

throtrgh the market system by middlcrneii

who visited Trowbridge and Dcvizes markets, where tllcy would have 1)cerl

availak~lco the Kulkington peasants.

Notjus t pottery was acquircd in this way, as we must assume that many of the

small finds on village sitcs came from urban traders. For example, tllc

2 1

tofis of

the rural settlcmcilt at Mlcstt~ui-yBuckingharnshire), occupied from the ~ o t l io the

16th centuries, yiclded rnorc than a hundred bucklcs and buckle plates (some

fragmentary), pins, harncss fittings, a finger ring, a pendant, a thimhlc, mirror

case, seal matrix, and other copper-alloy ol~jects, ogether with an iron padlock

and spur that are tunlikely to have beer1 madc 11y a country smith, imported stonc

objects such as hones, a mortar and pieces of handmill, and oyster shells. lhc

mist likcly source of such specialized artefacts and traded goods would have hccn

the towns of Fenny Stratfhrd, Stony Stratford and Newport Pagncll. Westbury's

peasants, like those at Bulkington and thousands of other rural cornrnunities, livcd

too far from largc towns to be aide to use their

facilities

rcgularly, though no doubt

some of the better quality metalwork or importcd goods that they l~oughtn a local

market had comc down thc conimcrcial network from a largc town.

We ought not to exaggcratc the cornnlcrcial role of towns in the period I 200-

1g00 We know that much exchange went on within the village, and that larger

producers would sell thcir corn, hay, animals and firc~~oodirectly to the

consumers. In a fully urbanized system we rnight expect that pcasants would havc

sold animals to town butchers, arlcl bought joints oS meat from the butchers' stalls

as they needed thcm. This may havc happened,

I)ut

among the aninla1 bone from

the rural site at West Cotton in Northamptonshire were skulls and other parts of

the skelcton normally deriving from butchery waste, showing that the animals wcre

killed and the meat distributed in thc country by the peasants themselves, or

peasants who were also part-time bu tc l~ rr s. ~

CHANGES N THE LONG TERM

The rise oS the small towns rcprcscnts an important phase of medieval

urbanization, and the archaeological evidcilcc supports the notioi~of dramatic

growth in the late 2th and above all the

I

3th centuries. 'l'his was the pcriod when

many towns began, expanded into ncw strcets, or spawned suburbs. Houses

were

built, rubbish pits dug and filled, craSts practised and pottery traded. Particularly


26/30

I I 0 C IH R IS T O P HE R D Y E R

impressive evidence has come from excavations on the edge of the medieval built-

up area. Work at Al~ingdon Oxfordshire, formcrly Bcrkshirc), Crawley in Susscx,

Evesham (Hcrcford and Worcester, formcrly Worccstcrshirc) and Godalming havc

all produced evidence of medieval buildings and occupation at some distance Srom

the town centre.

Expansion may seem ot~vious ecause that is also the message of the writtcn

sourccs, above all the thousand markct charters of 1200-1350 and documents

mentioning hundreds of boroughs especially in the I gth century. But archacology

contributes a great deal to our appreciation oS this phase of urbanization, because

the documents orlly tell us about legal market privileges and the conferring of

l~urgagecnure. Th e market and the town could have existed long before the formal

grant of privilege. O r the charters, if they were creating new institutions, might not

have succeeded in their aims, and the markct or town would not havc come into

bcing. The material evidence may lend occasional support Tor the existence of a

'proto-urban' scttlernent before the advent of a borough. At Hartlcpool the town

sccms to havc l~egunlowly, with scattcrcd buildings inhabited from the late I

I

th

century, but the really intensive occupation, with narrow plots crowded with

buildings used as dwellings and for crafts, appeared aftcr ahout

I 250

(Fig.

8).72

Archaeology gives us a very useful corroboration of the reality of urban life. It

is often said that the rlcw borougl~s f the I gth century were

no

morc than villages

pretending to be towns. An example is Rrewood in Staflbrclshire, a borough of

apparently no more than 25 hurgages in the I gth century in the midst of a rural

estatc of the bishops of Coventry and T,ichfield.

A

wide range of crafis and trades

in the town is not documented until

I

381, so it is very helpful to see material

evidcnce for industrial activities on the fringe of the town from the

I

gth century.

Together with newly discovered evidence that there were twice as many burgages

as previously thought, it has a strong case for being regarded as a fully [ledgcd

town.' To I-~cmore corlfidcnt about thc chronolog,~ f urbanization we need to

know morc of the archacology of the small towns of the 10th and I I th centuries,

such as the numerous early boroughs of the south-west. Similarly the so-called

'failed boroughs' of the I ath and I gth centuries deserve more careful investigation.

Th e false starts need not detract Srom our overall impression of an urbanizing I gth

century. The flourishing of a town Sor a few decades was a significant event at the

time: we sliould not regard such a temporary phase of urban growth as insignificant

hccausc the town did not survive into modcrn times. The casualties arose Srom

fierce competition fuelled by commercial growth, and the 'deserted towns', like

Oversley (scc

pp.

91-2, above) were oftcn rapidly overtaken by successful

neighbours.

B. IVilsoi~. l'ratlc. i~ lt lu tr y nt1 domrstic ac tivi ~) it tlic Old C:Io~tiirigFactor.) sitc, iIl)ingtlot l',

Oronln i~ia .

, I \

( I ~ I ) .

270p86:

R1

K . Rol~crts,Exc:n.atiorrs at hlr. Il:t~-trick's Irms Hotrl anti tllc C~.o\ \nul~l ic ~ol~sc ,3 88.

Ock

Street.

.\l,ingrlon',

O\onipii\in, IXII

( I ~ J C ) ~ ) ,(Y-78; S. Ste\clrs, 'l:xca\atio n\

at

tlic (~)ltl ost Of ic r sitc, I 5-1

I-Iigh St1-rrt, (:~. anlc y. \ h t Sus\cx', , S I ~ ~ \ P Yl i - ( / i ( ~ ~ ~ ~ I .,'o//., 135 (1907 )~

0'3

2 8; R. Etl\\;rr.tls ant1 I). Huryt, 'Iron

.Axe scttlcmrllt


27/30

T H E

A R C I -I A E O 1 ,O G Y O F

M E D I E V A L S M A L L T O W N S

I 1 1

From around 1300, the 'crisis' of the later Nliddle Ages, there is a mixed

impression of decline, survival and growth. Some towns wcre sliding downhill by

c. 1:300. Kurgage plots fell vacant

at

Newport (Pcmbrokeshire) at the end of thc

I 3th century, and a sitc on the east side of Warcham in Dorset was occupicd in thc

I

2th century and abandorlcd in the I gth.' Often houscs fell into decay in the 14th

and 15th centuries, for example at Brackley (Northamptonshire) and Cowbridge.

'Tenements at Hartlepool wcrc intensively occupied in the late 19th and 14th

9

centuries, but by c. 1400 one plot bccame a yard while on an adjolriing plot the

buildi~lgswere reduced in nu ml~ cr. ater in the 15th century all of the houses on

the site fell into disuse (Fig.

8).

Sometimes whole sections of towns wcre

abandoned.' O n one sitc in Poole at thc end of the Middle Ages a layer of 'dark

earth' was recognized, comparable with thc evidence for thc phase of dc-

urbanization in Roman towns. The decline of the small port of Pevensey was

reflcctcd in the narrower ranwe orimported pottery in the 15th c e n t ~ ~ r y . ' ~

?

To reflect the contrary vlew, sorne excavators havc expressed scepticism about

the apparent absence of 15th-century occupatiorl on thcir sites, when documents

suggest that the town was still a c t i v ~ . ' ~ as the lack of material causcd by a new

patter11 of rubbish disposal? O r did plots of land change function, with shifts in the

location of crafts, which did not

necessarily

mean that the town became poorer or

disastrously smaller?

Population was low and stagnant in both town and country for almost two

centuries after the Black Death of 1348-9, a period which contained a 'great

depression' in trade in the middle of the 15th century. In a remarkable tribute to

the vigour in sections of urban life some small towns grew in size, and a few ncw

towns emerged. Devon is famous for its prosperity in the

I

5th century, and we find

a proto-town at Exmouth where cxcavations have revealed a chapel and a clustcr

of houses, apparently a settlement Sor fishermen and mariners which began in the

I

eth century hut expanded in the

I

4th and

I

5th.

On

the edge of Newton Abbot,

plots which had been laid out in the 13th century were hcing subdivided and

occupicd more irltcnsivcly two centuries later (Fig. g).' opography and docu-

ments tell us that Pcnsford (Avon, formerly in Somerset) grcw in an unplanned

cluster of clothmakcrs' houscs straddling parish and manorial boundaries.'

Within the small towns, whethcr they were growing or declining as a whole,

new timber-framed houses wcre being constructed. These may in some cases

reprcscnt the

investment

decisions oflandlords, who

demonstrated

thcir corlfidcnce

in the long-term future. In others, the houses would have hccn built 11y their

h l u ~ l ~ l r y ,1 (i t. in note 2 7 ; 1.

A.

Harding, L. hlrpham ;111d K . , J . C : Srnitlr, l'lic cxca\aliorl of ~n tl r 1:;th

vclltury deposits at Ho\vard's L;I II ~,\r;rrrhatn', Dor\i~f

\ill Hi\/

I ~ I ~ ( ~ ~ u l .

o .

/'rut., I

j

(IC):)~),1 (JO.

I

R.

Xthins, /I. Ctr;~prnanand 1\1 Holrncs, 'l' hc cxca\.alior~ of a r ~ l c d i r n l ~:rkr/hrcwlrorrsc at 'l'ht- l*;lrns,

B1.aclilcy.

Northarnptonslrirc,J;rll.

I ygy', .\ O~t/lflnl/~to~l\/llr?11~t/1~1~11/..8 (1 9 ~1 8 y ) , 2 1; P i t r k h ~ i ~ s ~LIICI EV;~IIS.p.

cic. in nore 35, I 11) 2 3 ; I):tnicls, op . c'it. in nutc 72; Astill. op. cit. i r l ~ ~ o t c

. 1.5);

C; G. lstill, :-\rc.hacolo~\i nt1 11ic

l;,lc-rncdicbal urb;lrl decline',

2

1-1-34 ill 1 . l i . Slalcr (ctl.) . ??~ic,ll.\

it

~ k 2 c / t r l e . ~ ~

o o 1 6 o o

.-\ltl~.rshot,

~ 0 0 ) .

I

Horse),

u p . c'il. ill 11otc 5% 2 9 ; ll;lrhcl.,

op.

(.it. r l ~ro tc 2 I 3.

C:urric', 011. cit. in notc 2 8 75

6.

' P.J

\~cddcll,l'llc cuca\-ation of'~n rdic \al l ~ d;ltcr Irouscs ant1 St. hl;ir-~;rrct's li al ~r l

t

I'xrnor~th, 982-1

98.1',

firor.

/)c.r on

dlrhnuol. .Sor., .

( I S D O ) , 1 0

1 I ; drrn, 'The cxc;rvation ol'~nctlic\~n l

nd

1atc.1. olrcs ;it \ Vo lb o~ ~o u~ h

Strcct, Nrwton Ahbor',

Ptoc. 1)roon

.-lnhnc.01. Sir.. 43 (1985) 7

7

" ).

ic R. Idi-ccl~.Srr1/11/\l(~li(,7'111filzt n\ll /17(171 Bri\rol, I 975). 45

0.


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I

I 2 C H R I S T O P H E R D Y ER

NEWTON BBOT

0

5 1 m

u

FI(;.

Medieval Small Towns

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