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

Middle Ages: towns
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fifteenth-century ecclesiastical town houses have
produced evidence of luxurious living, such as an
unusual amount of imported German pottery; and
in nascent county towns such as Shrewsbury.
In the majority of cases where their plans can
be ascertained, the houses of religious and noble
leaders were of courtyard plan. The hall of the
property lay normally at the rear of a yard, though
occasionally to the side on restricted sites, with a
range of buildings (often separately let) fronting
the street. Leaders of the merchant community
in the larger towns, such as those who dealt in
wine or some other aspect of royal service, also
aspired to the style of house with a courtyard and
an open hall of lofty proportions. Fourteenth- to
sixteenth-century examples are known at Exeter,
King’s Lynn, London, Norwich and Oxford
(Pantin 1962–3).
A smaller form of house, of three to six rooms
in ground-floor plan, did not have a true courtyard
with a formal gate to the street, though it might
have a yard with buildings along one side, or an
alley running the length of a long, narrow property.
The latter arrangement is illustrated most clearly
by properties on waterfront sites, such as in King’s
Lynn or south of Thames Street in London. Many
had an alley down one side, and in consequence
buildings were usually arranged down the side of
the plot behind the street-range which commonly
comprised shops, sometimes let separately. Along,
usually at the side of, most waterfront properties
ran the access alley from the street to the river and
the main water supply. This originated for the most
part as a private thoroughfare, in some cases
Figure 12.4 Medieval buildings survive in many British
towns. Here, at the Cornmarket in Oxford, are three out of
an original block of five houses that formed the street
frontage of the New Inn. They were built, according to
dendrochronology of the timbers, probably in 1386–7, and
have been recently restored. Medieval buildings have much
to contribute to the appearance of the town today.
Source: Julian Munby
becoming public through time and custom. There were many variations on this long, narrow plan
(e.g. in Hartlepool, Daniels 1990), and these houses do not conform easily to any type or standard
design.
Smaller, and more uniform in its characteristics, was a house with two rooms on three or more
floors. This type is known from documentary and archaeological evidence in London from the
early fourteenth century; in several cases such houses form a strip, two rooms deep, fronting but
separate from a larger property behind. Fourteenth-century examples are known from both
excavation and from documents in London, and a block of three (originally five) still stand in
Cornmarket, Oxford; they are dated by dendrochronology to 1386–7 (Figure 12.4).
The houses of the medieval poor have largely been destroyed without trace in almost every
town. By the time the depictions of towns in engravings became commonplace, these humble
dwellings had largely disappeared; and as they commonly lay along street-frontages, archaeological
excavation has not uncovered them because of later street-widening and the digging of cellars,
especially in the nineteenth century. Sometimes the existence of buildings, probably forming