The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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• 216 • John Sch<strong>of</strong>ield<br />
Suburbs and the waterfront<br />
<strong>The</strong> actions <strong>of</strong> civic leaders in medieval towns <strong>ca</strong>n also be seen in the way in which the borders<br />
<strong>of</strong> towns, outside the line <strong>of</strong> the defences, were organized—the suburbs on land, and the waterfront<br />
zone along the town’s river or its seafront.<br />
Growth or decline in the suburbs <strong>of</strong> the town may be a reflection <strong>of</strong> its economic fortunes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> form <strong>of</strong> suburbs was usually dictated by existing approach roads and by the lo<strong>ca</strong>tion <strong>of</strong><br />
markets immediately outside the town gates, as illustrated most vividly by the space <strong>ca</strong>lled St<br />
Giles outside the north gate <strong>of</strong> Oxford. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, many <strong>of</strong> the<br />
older towns such as Canterbury, Winchester and York expanded their suburbs to reach their<br />
largest extent for several centuries. Prominent churches or bridges would be rebuilt as signs <strong>of</strong><br />
prosperity. At Exeter, for instance, a suburb on Exe Island would have been promoted by the<br />
building <strong>of</strong> St Edmund’s church and the contiguous Exe Bridge around 1200. Suburban expansion<br />
<strong>ca</strong>n be identified by areas <strong>of</strong> town <strong>ca</strong>lled Newland, as at Banbury and Gloucester. After 1300, few<br />
if any towns expanded further, and many contracted in size. By the time <strong>of</strong> the earliest maps<br />
around 1600, great parts <strong>of</strong> their suburbs had reverted to fields.<br />
Dangerous or obnoxious trades were <strong>of</strong>ten banned to the extramural areas. Blacksmiths, potters,<br />
tanners and fullers were found here, either excluded be<strong>ca</strong>use <strong>of</strong> their smoke or noise, or taking<br />
advantage <strong>of</strong> the relatively open space (the bell-founders could dig for brickearth, the dyers<br />
stretch their cloths on frames <strong>ca</strong>lled tenters). When the hospitals and friaries <strong>ca</strong>me in the twelfth<br />
and thirteenth centuries, they tended to form topographi<strong>ca</strong>l obstacles rather than give encouragment<br />
to further growth (though there are exceptions: sometimes a friary would give a new tone to a<br />
suburb or neighbourhood, and richer houses would thereafter congregate around it).<br />
Most suburbs were relatively poor, but some early developments were conspicuously wealthy,<br />
for instance in the western suburb <strong>of</strong> Winchester or outside the north gate at Gloucester. In a<br />
few <strong>ca</strong>ses, the town centre moved to what had previously been a suburb; at Hereford and<br />
Northampton, for example, the extramural market be<strong>ca</strong>me the commercial centre <strong>of</strong> the town,<br />
and the later expansion <strong>of</strong> Leicester was around the East Gate.<br />
<strong>The</strong> boundaries <strong>of</strong> suburbs, being the boundaries <strong>of</strong> the whole settlement, indi<strong>ca</strong>te general<br />
prosperity or decline <strong>of</strong> the town, and suburbs <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>of</strong>fer ‘clean-slate’ sites, where the occupation<br />
is easier to understand be<strong>ca</strong>use it is on virgin soil. This occupation is <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>of</strong> an industrial<br />
character. A relative concentration <strong>of</strong> housing along certain streets identifies the major axis routes<br />
to the town, and if the date <strong>of</strong> this settlement <strong>ca</strong>n be established by archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l and other<br />
means, the date <strong>of</strong> development <strong>of</strong> that route (a trading route out to the hinterland in a particular<br />
direction) <strong>ca</strong>n be explored. Two ex<strong>ca</strong>vations <strong>of</strong> medieval suburban sites in recent years demonstrate<br />
these qualities: that <strong>of</strong> the Hamel, Oxford, and Alms Lane, Norwich (Atkin 1985). Alms Lane in<br />
particular shows a good suburban sequence. In the tenth century, it lay north <strong>of</strong> and outside the<br />
Saxon town, and until about 1275 was used as a refuse dump for the crafts <strong>of</strong> the town, as shown<br />
by the artefacts. Wetland plants and bones <strong>of</strong> frogs and toads indi<strong>ca</strong>te the environment. From the<br />
late thirteenth century, as demonstrated by archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l and documentary evidence, the site<br />
was owned and used by workers in leather, skinning, bone-working and especially iron-working.<br />
In about 1375, however, the land was levelled and be<strong>ca</strong>me the site <strong>of</strong> housing <strong>from</strong> the expanding<br />
city, and suburban industries were pushed out.<br />
Besides spreading out along approach roads, the town <strong>of</strong>ten spread in a rather different manner<br />
into the adjacent river or sea. A waterfront zone <strong>of</strong>ten developed as a narrow strip <strong>of</strong> reclaimed<br />
land along the river bank or shore, modifying it to suit the needs both <strong>of</strong> landing and exporting<br />
goods, and in time for housing, warehouses and other buildings, even churches. Thus many<br />
towns actually increased their area—in the City <strong>of</strong> London, perhaps by as much as 15 per cent—<br />
over the medieval period by pushing out into the water.