Decline and Regeneration in Medieval English Townscapes

<p dir="ltr">Long-running debates about the extent to which towns in later medieval England<br>suffered from a process of ‘decline’ in the later 14th and early 15th century have traditionally<br>been dominated by historical evidence, from which relative wealth and population have been<br>calculated. Archaeological analysis offers an opportunity to take a different approach to this<br>question, by comparing patterns of regeneration both within and between towns. This paper<br>explores this potential in relation to three small towns in eastern England; Maldon (Essex),<br>Thaxted (Essex) and Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire). By reconstructing patterns of<br>regeneration through excavated remains and the occurrence of standing buildings we<br>propose that archaeology serves to demonstrate the complexity, and highly contextualised<br>character, of urban development in this period.</p>