The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 218 • John Schofield
archaeological evidence, that the twelfth century was a time of urban growth. In London, the
greatest amount of reclamation took place between about 1120 and 1220.
Houses and buildings on the domestic scale
The shape and size of individual buildings clearly contributed to the outline and definition of
properties, particularly along street frontages; by 1150, in London, the frontages of streets such
as Bow Lane and Milk Street were continuous rows of buildings. Equally, properties can be
defined by the way in which rubbish pits were dug in groups or lines (Schofield et al. 1990). In
some cases, the street frontage was already indented or even slightly curved, taking account of
encroachments or obstacles formed by prominent buildings. Some of these encroachments were
buildings of stone, commonly with their gables against the street. The erection of a stone building
by the street, often in the twelfth or thirteenth centuries (as for example also at Lincoln and Bury
St Edmunds), would thereafter tend to anchor that part of the frontage for generations.
In Canterbury, London and Winchester, stone buildings near the street could occasionally be
found by 1100; there are a number of twelfth-century examples, for instance in London at Well
Court, also in Bow Lane, or on narrow waterfront properties immediately downstream of the
medieval bridge site at New Fresh
Wharf. In smaller but still important
towns, the stone buildings tended
to be in certain areas such as on or
near the main street, or along the
riverfront; some towns had areas
where the small but economically
significant Jewish community
congregated, and they have been
traditionally associated with stone
houses. On the other hand, in towns
such as Bury St Edmunds, there was
a scattering of stone houses
throughout, not in any one part.
Many houses in both large and
medium-sized towns belonged to a
distant lord, whether lay or religious
(a monastery or bishopric). There
were two purposes for such a
house: the provision of
accommodation for those engaged
in the everyday affairs of the house
or the see, such as the selling of
produce or the buying of goods,
especially luxuries; and as the
residence of the institution’s head
when in town. These urban depots
Figure 12.3 A revetment of 1270–90 excavated at Trig Lane, London,
showing its repertoire of carpentry joints. Sometimes timbers from medieval
buildings formerly on land are found reused in the waterfront constructions,
enabling details of the lost townscape to be reconstructed.
Source: Museum of London Archaeology Service
of religious institutions from out of
the town, whether based in another
town or in the countryside, are
found in many of the larger centres,
such as York, or Edinburgh, where