Decline and Regeneration in Medieval English Townscapes
Long-running debates about the extent to which towns in later medieval England
suffered from a process of ‘decline’ in the later 14th and early 15th century have traditionally
been dominated by historical evidence, from which relative wealth and population have been
calculated. Archaeological analysis offers an opportunity to take a different approach to this
question, by comparing patterns of regeneration both within and between towns. This paper
explores this potential in relation to three small towns in eastern England; Maldon (Essex),
Thaxted (Essex) and Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire). By reconstructing patterns of
regeneration through excavated remains and the occurrence of standing buildings we
propose that archaeology serves to demonstrate the complexity, and highly contextualised
character, of urban development in this period.
Funding
Urban Life in a Time of Crisis: Enduring Urban Lifeways in Later Medieval England (ENDURE)
UK Research and Innovation
Find out more...European Research Council
History
Author affiliation
College of Social Sci Arts and Humanities Archaeology & Ancient HistoryVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Published in
ArcheoLogica DataPublisher
Mappa Open DataCopyright date
2025Publisher DOI
Notes
Embargo until publicationLanguage
enPublisher version
Deposited by
Professor Ben JervisDeposit date
2025-05-20Data Access Statement
The datasets underpinning this paper are available as supplementary materials. This comprises three datasets summarising excavations within the towns and the evidence for medieval occupation. Data on standing buildings is freely available from the National Heritage List for England https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/Usage metrics
