Undertake syntheses of urban excavation, survey and documentary data to develop understanding of town development 

Summary:

The East Midlands is particularly important as the location for the establishment in the ninth and tenth centuries of the five defended towns at Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford (the celebrated Five Boroughs of the Danelaw)[1], together with Northampton[2]. These centres continued as major urban foci into the Post-Conquest period, which saw also the development of a range of smaller towns[3]. Archaeological excavation has been undertaken to a varying extent in these larger towns, but much less so in the smaller urban settlements, and the emerging knowledge remains fragmentary[4]. Syntheses of the results of excavation, successfully completed for Lincoln[5], remain largely absent elsewhere, while comparative data and detail are lacking on key ceramic assemblages crucial for developing regional chronological frameworks and for elucidating trading networks. Better understanding is needed of the development of urban centres and the nature and variations of industrial and economic activity. Completion of Urban Archaeological Databases for major centres, comparable to those developed for Lincoln, Leicester and Nottingham, is an urgent requirement in order to provide a foundation for further research and to assist in understanding the existing evidence[6].

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.1-7.1.4; 7.4.1; 7.4.4; 7.4.5; 7.5.3-7.5.6; 7.6.1; 7.6.3; 7.6.4; 7.7.4; 7.7.5

Enhance the record of urban and suburban secular standing buildings and associated subterranean structures 

Summary:

Surviving medieval urban secular buildings are few in number within the region, and are perhaps best represented by a variety of well-preserved buildings of twelfth century and later date surviving in Lincoln[7][8]. Dendrochronology[9] and detailed investigations of building plans can contribute significantly to our knowledge of the date and status of individual buildings, and cumulatively can contribute to greater understanding of the history and character of urban development. These techniques can usefully be combined with surveys and documentary studies of associated cellars, caves and other subterranean structures, which at Nottingham in particular have the potential for developing further our understanding of urban morphology and functions[10]. A review of urban and suburban standing buildings with the potential to contain medieval structural elements, and of associated subterranean structures, is recommended in order to enhance current Urban Archaeological Databases[11] and Historic Environment Records[12]. This will provide the basic information that is required to inform planning decisions and to guide the application of appropriate research techniques.

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.1-7.1.4; 7.6.4

Investigate the provisioning of the medieval town by further detailed study of environmental data and human remains

Summary:

The increasing use of cess-pits in medieval towns means that there is extensive evidence for the diet of the population in medieval Leicester, Lincoln and other urban centres[13]. At Causeway Lane in Leicester, for example, cess-pits and other contexts yielded remains of apple, blackberry, damson, grape, plum and pear, while vegetables included bean, leek and pea. Domestic animals and fowl were augmented by sea fish and oysters[14]. The evidence of diet may be used to identify the various social groups of the town and their access to food, and, together with isotope analysis, may identify elements of the population born and brought up elsewhere. There are also many other aspects of economy, trade and craft that can be illuminated by the further study of this evidence, as has been suggested for Lincoln[15]. For the medieval urban centres, environmental analyses may be supported by isotopic and other scientific studies of human remains obtained from cemeteries and by documentary research. This research objective has the potential to be expanded to cover Roman and Saxon urban centres, this longer time-frame allowing for the use of data from rural and other sites which may be represented more sparsely in a narrower chronology[16].

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.1; 7.1.2; 7.1.4; 7.5.6; 7.7.4; 7.7.5

Investigate further the role of markets, fairs and ports and trading routes 

Summary:

Markets played a key role in the development of medieval towns[17], as demonstrated recently at Lincoln[18], and it has been suggested that regularised market places with their links to road networks and wharves may provide important evidence of early planning[19]. Coastal and inland ports and fairs performed broadly similar functions to markets and provided foci for communal economic and social activity on a regular basis. There is a need to focus inquiry on fairs and ports, which have generally been accorded little attention[20], and in particular upon such regionally important sites as the long-lived Lenton Fair[21] in Nottingham and the inland port at Boston in Lincolnshire[22]. There needs to be more targeting of deposits yielding environmental remains (particularly fish bones, which are especially poorly represented in the archaeological record). Excavations and landscape assessments could usefully be carried out alongside metal-detecting programmes, since port and fair sites in particular have traditionally served as foci for metal-detecting. In addition, further scientific analyses of pottery and other traded commodities such as building stone from quarries at Collyweston in Northamptonshire and Ketton in Rutland[23] or the internationally important alabaster of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire[24] may shed further important light upon trading networks in Britain and beyond and assist in the identification of exchange foci.

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.1; 7.1.2; 7.1.4; 7.6.1; 7.6.4; 7.7.5

Investigate the morphology of rural settlements 

Summary:

The East Midlands preserves evidence of a complex landscape, including zones dominated by a hierarchy of nucleated villages, hamlets and farmsteads, mainly in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, eastern Derbyshire and southern and eastern parts of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire[25]. Away from these zones, landscapes are characterised by dispersed farmsteads and hamlets, notably in Charnwood, Whittlewood and Sherwood Forests, north and west Derbyshire, the Coal Measures of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and the coastal marshes and fenlands of Lincolnshire. This spatial complexity has yet to be fully characterised or explained, and priorities for further work include assessment of the date of establishment of nucleated settlement, the date of origin of the region’s many planned villages, and the factors underlying observed variations in settlement morphology[26]. Nucleated settlement appears to have developed, in some areas at least, no later than the ninth century[27], but the date of establishment of the more obviously planned villages remains unclear. Concentrations of royal estates in eastern Leicestershire, northern Nottinghamshire and north-west Derbyshire, documented in Domesday Book but acquired over a period of time, are suggested to have been a springboard for the development of planned villages during the eleventh century[28]. They particularly merit further detailed investigation by techniques such as test-pitting in gardens and open spaces in village cores, as has been undertaken at Kibworth, in Leicestershire[29] and as part of the Whittlewood project in south Northamptonshire and north Buckinghamshire[30].

Agenda topics addressed: 7.2.1-7.2.4; 7.5.4

Investigate the development, structure and landholdings of manorial estate centres 

Summary:

Regional manorial centres, whether secular or lay, remain poorly investigated and merit further systematic study. The East Midlands preserves a rich resource of manorial sites, ranging in status from castles and granges to more modest establishments that, relative to neighbouring regions, are comparatively rarely moated[31]. Moated sites have received the greatest attention from researchers, and where excavated may preserve elaborate structural remains. Saxilby, for example, was provided with a timber hall and solar[32], while Epworth preserved an impressive stone-constructed complex[33]. The silted ditches of moated enclosures may also preserve waterlogged artefactual and environmental remains with significant potential for the reconstruction of past environments[34]. Non-moated sites have proved less attractive to archaeologists, with occasional exceptions such as Holyoak in Leicestershire, which preserved a two-storey main building of the thirteenth century[35]. The landholdings associated with these establishments have seldom been examined by excavation, although earthworks often survive well and in many cases have been the subject of field survey. It is recommended that the results of survey should in selected instances be tested by excavation. It is hoped that this will confirm the identity of features and clarify the chronology of manorial development, which in some instances may have roots in the pre-Conquest period.

Agenda topics addressed: 7.2.1; 7.2.4; 7.3.1-7.3.5; 7.5.4; 7.7.3-7.7.5

Estates, architecture and power: investigate the relationship between castles and great houses and their estates 

Summary:

The architecture of many castles and great houses is relatively well-known, but there remains a need to investigate the relationship between these structures and the estates in which they are located. For example, are particular forms of building plan associated with particular magnates, such as William Peverel of Derbyshire[36], and do the similarities encompass estate components and layout? There are over 250 castles in the region, many of which started as motte and bailey earthwork and timber fortifications in the late 11th and 12th centuries. The date of establishment of the earliest castles, which were important not only for their role in battle but also as visually dominating symbols of overlordship, has long been debated, and the possibility of pre-Conquest origins for some remains a topic for further research. The investigation of Barnard Castle points the way forward in castle and estate studies, emphasising the need to examine the estate core within the context of the estate lands, the wider countryside and the local community[37]. There have been several recent studies of castles in their wider environment[38], but the approach has yet to be applied to castles and manorial centres in the East Midlands.

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.1; 7.1.2; 7.3.5; 7.4.1; 7.4.5

Investigate the location and character of medieval battlefields

Summary:

Medieval battlefield sites have long remained the preserve of the local historian more concerned and more familiar with documentary evidence than the landscape. Aside from castle sites that acted as foci for military actions, the region preserves a number of important battlefield sites that would repay further investigations. These include two key battlefields of the Wars of the Roses: a period which has been identified as a key focus of archaeological interest (in particular for evidence of the introduction of gunpowder weapons in England)[39]. The first is the pivotal Battle of Bosworth in Leicestershire, where Henry VII’s defeat of Richard III in 1485 marks the beginning of the Tudor period[40]. The second is Stoke Field in Nottinghamshire, marginally beyond this period, where in 1487 Henry VII’s forces crushed a Yorkist rebellion[41]. At both of these sites, the evidence for the locations of battlefields would benefit from careful reviews of documentary sources and of the topographical and archaeological evidence (primarily in the form of unstratified artefact scatters and mass graves)[42]. Direct archaeological investigations of battle archaeology through metal detecting, as demonstrated at Bosworth[43] and Towton[44], should be undertaken. Prospecting for mass graves through geophysical survey and excavation should also be considered.

Agenda topic addressed: 7.4.6

Investigate the development of the open-field system and medieval woodland management 

Summary:

The origins of the open-field system have long attracted discussion, and are nowhere better addressed than in the East Midlands[45]. Large areas of the lowland zone were dominated in this period by unhedged open fields rotating between arable and pasture and, particularly in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, ridge and furrow earthworks remain important elements of the landscape character. The only English village where open-field farming is still conducted under the guidance of a court leet is to be found at Laxton in Nottinghamshire[46], and detailed surveys here and elsewhere have enhanced significantly our understanding of the origins of this flexible and long-lived agricultural system, developments over time, and the relationship between arable, pasture and woodland[47]. Fieldwalking[48], targeted excavation, and earthwork, geophysical, air photographic and lidar surveys can elucidate the origins and development of field systems and their relationship to earlier systems of land allotment[49], and should be encouraged. There is also much potential for further investigations of woodland, including hunting parks, by documentary research, earthwork surveys and remote sensing. Studies have been undertaken of Rockingham Forest[50] and of Leicestershire[51] and Lincolnshire[52] woodlands. Building upon these, further work should aim to integrate documentary and landscape evidence, with emphasis upon the evidence for former management and exploitation, access and changing boundaries. There is also a need to compare and contrast the information on woodland management and exploitation in the Champion lands with that in less favoured upland areas. Woodlands offer particular opportunities for a wide range of local fieldwork as well as potential partnerships with the Woodland Trust, National Trust and community groups, which are often concerned with the amenity value of woodlands.

Ridge and furrow earthworks preserved in pasture outside Burrough Hill hillfort, Leicestershire (photograph: D. Knight)

Agenda topics addressed: 7.2.1; 7.2.2; 7.3.2; 7.5.4; 7.7.1-7.7.3

Research the regional communications infrastructure

Summary:

The medieval period is important for the study of communication routes, which may well have varied in importance from one time to another and intra-regionally[53]. The physical infrastructure, comprising roads, rivers and related appurtenances such as bridges and wharfs, and associations of these with landscape features, are under-investigated. In addition, the evidence that pottery and other artefacts can provide for the use of inland and coastal waterways such as the Trent and Nene has also not been maximised[54]. At Hemington Quarry near Castle Donington, Leicestershire, three phases of timber and stone bridge piers dated to 1090, 1215 and 1238 respectively have been recorded and fully investigated during gravel extraction in the river floodplain[55]. Such investigations are rare, however, and many communications features are not listed in Historic Environment Records. Landscape features, such as hollow-ways, fords and bypassed stretches of major and minor highways, also remain little researched, while roads are seldom accorded archaeological excavation[56].

Agenda topics addressed: 7.1.2; 7.1.4; 7.6.1; 7.6.2; 7.7.5