Medieval England
An Aerial Survey

This book discusses in detail some aspects of life in medieval England still to be seen in the landscape.

M. W. Beresford (Author), J. K. S. Joseph (Author)

9780521109369, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 June 2009

308 pages
27.9 x 21 x 1.6 cm, 0.7 kg

The English cultural landscape has evolved over centuries, retaining in its multifarious patterning many aspects of the past which provide evidence of a long and gradual development. This book discusses in detail some aspects of life in medieval England still to be seen in the landscape. The perspective of the air photograph conveys a fresh understanding of the physical setting of medieval society, of the interaction between communities and the land upon which they settled and of the varying pattern of the social and economic fabric of the country. Comparison of air photographs with early maps and records is exceptionally informative, permitting analytical studies of town and village plans, or providing clues to the discovery of quite unexpected features. Many villages were established long before the Doomsday survey: some have vanished or are now to be seen only as a roughness in the ground or as marks in soil or crops. Others may remain as an ancient nucleus of a town or city now surrounded by more recent building development.

Part I: Introduction: 1. Aims and limitations
2. Old maps and new photographs
Part II. The fields and villages: 3. The fields
4. The fabric of the village
5. The multiplication of villages
6. The dissolution of the medieval landscape
7. Village plans
Part III. The towns: 8. Features in the town plan
9. The planned towns, 1066–1307
Part IV. Industrial and other features: 10. Some industrial remains
11. Miscellaneous features
Index.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD]