This is an archaeological, architectural and historical study of one of the largest complexes of buildings in the medieval City of London, but one which is largely unknown and of which only two fragments survive above ground today. It is the fifth volume in a series on the monasteries of London. Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, was the first religious house to be established inside the walls of London after the Norman Conquest, in 11078; one of the earliest Augustinian houses to be established in England; and the first to be dissolved, in 1532. By 1200 the precinct north of Leadenhall Street and just inside Aldgate was filled with imposing stone buildings, including a large and architecturally impressive church which was the burial place of two of the children of King Stephen in the middle of the 12th century. Londons first mayor, Henry FitzAilwin, was buried in the entrance to the chapter house. In the 16th century the monastery was owned by the Duke of Norfolk, second only to Queen Elizabeth in power, who was executed in 1572 for his part in plots surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. Several modern excavations of 1977 to 1990, many antiquarian drawings, and a ground-floor and a first-floor plan of all the monastery buildings made around 1585 are brought together here for the first time, to reconstruct a fully illustrated and detailed history and archaeology of the priory site. Not only can all the major periods of the priorys building history be suggested and compared with other religious houses in medieval London, but the excavations produced their own surprises, such as evidence of the beginning of the tin-glazed or delftware pottery industry in the 1590s, and a unique Jewish plate of the 18th century.

Excavation ahead of redevelopment by London Underground Limited uncovered flint tools and debitage characteristic of the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and Early Bronze Age. Activity resumed in the Late Bronze Age. A neonate skeleton of Early Iron Age date was recovered from a rubbish pit near a probable roundhouse. Two crouched adult inhumations are atypically early Roman. Two horse burials and a dog skeleton are also of Roman date. Thereafter, occupation ceased until post-medieval times. Overall, the work provides invaluable information relating to the development of the landscape beneath the suburbs of modern east London.

This volume examines South Uist, a small island in the soutern half of the Outer Hebrides. In the middle of the island lies the township of Bornais. This covers a particularly flat area of land which means that the three mounds can be seen all the more clearly. These mounds have been identified as being from the Viking period, with evidence of pre-Viking habitation at the site coming from Iron Age sherds. The excavation of the Bornais settlement is a long-term project, which has been going since 1994. This first volume of results of the excavation focuses on Mound 3, but includes a discussion of the topographic and geophysical survey of all the mounds. There is also considerable analysis of the environmental remains and radiocarbon dating.

As its title might suggest, this volume sets out to present a new view of Scotland's Neolithic as seen via its monumental structures. The papers brought together here came out of a research day at Cardiff University's School of History and Archaeology in January 2002 and cover a diverse number of topics. They raise questions of ancestry and worldview, and highlight the amount that can be done in examining the settings of monuments.

The medieval moated site at Cedars Wood was investigated in 1980 and 1999, revealing occupation evidence from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, Roman and medieval periods. The latter forms the focus of this report although other finds are listed. Occupied from the 12th to 14th century, the site is thought to have belonged to the Broughton family and comprised an area of approximately one acre enclosed by a shallow moat. This report discusses the historical background to the site, the excavations and stratigraphy and the finds, revealing why the position and features at Cedars Field make it untypical of moated sites in the region. Summaries are given in English, French and German.

This is an account of the archaeological work begun in 1985 in response to the development of Stansted as Londons third airport. Originally it was conceived as a medieval landscape project, focusing on the three known sites in the area two of which were thought to be Domesday Manors supplemented by fieldwalking of the entire development area. By 1991 the fieldwalking programme, coupled with large-scale excavations and watching briefs, had transformed our understanding of the settlement landscape of north-west Essex, with the discovery of extensive archaeological deposits dating back to the Neolithic. The earliest occupation was characterized by Neolithic flint work, and the earliest identified structures were Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, with one of the largest pottery collections of this date from Essex recovered from a single rubbish pit complex. Both enclosed and open settlements of Middle Iron Age date were excavated. One of these had an impressive entrance-way and substantial corner structures. A complete defended settlement of the Late Iron Age (75-25 BC) was recorded. It contained a sequence of roundhouses placed around a central square structure, interpreted as a shrine. There is evidence for internal planning of the enclosed space and for the economy of the settlement, including luxury imports. Roman settlement was represented by a series of sites with cobbled surfaces and enclosures, dating from the 1st to 4th centuries. A 1st to 2nd-century cremation cemetery comprised family groups of burials. Two of the burials contained spectacular grave goods including bronze, glass and pottery vessels as well as many other items. Environmental evidence demonstrated that agricultural activity continued in the Saxon period although no settlement sites were identified. Occupation flourished in the medieval period, with several sites containing buildings of 12th and 13th century date. The most important of these was a complete farmstead, including barn, dwelling-house, kitchen and byre. All of the medieval sites were abandoned in the late 13th to 14th century. Detailed analysis was undertaken on the upstanding post-medieval buildings, largely 17th century in origin, prior to their removal, and excavation of the below ground remains followed. The report ends by describing the construction of the Second World War airfield and its subsequent transformation as a major international airport.

The Cistercian monastery of St Mary Stratford Langthorne once stood on land south of the new Jubilee Line station at Stratford. Excavations 1973-94 recorded large parts of the monastic church, cemetery and related buildings. Topics include the precinct arrangement, architecture and decoration, and the way of life of the inhabitants. The expansion of the monastic church from a simple cruciform building in the mid 12th century into an aisled presbytery with ambulatory and eastern chapel in the 13th century is notable. The excavated burials (647) are the largest sample from a Cistercian site in Europe and provide evidence for burial customs, patterns of cemetery use and the physical characteristics of the population, including medical care.

In 1991 Spitalfields Market in London's East End was relocated, paving the way for one of the largest and most complex excavations ever launched in London, taking place on a site measuring almost thirteen acres. This superb book tells the story of the excavation and the 2000-year history of the area from the Roman period to the present day. Details on the finds recovered, and the methods and recording systems used, are interspersed with a narrative history of the site. The book begins with the Roman burial ground and the remains of a wealthy Roman woman and her sarcophagus which became the focus of a memorable episode of Meet the Ancestors . The book then moves on to the medieval period and the 12th-century hospital which was founded at Spitalfields along with its church, infirmaries and other buildings, and burials. Finds from this period are supplemented with broader discussion of life in medieval London, such as disease and medicine, and the changing landscape around the site. During the Reformation, the hospital and priory were closed but the story of the site continued. The land was taken by the Crown, parts of the site were leased, most notably as artillery ground, with new housing and cottage industries to follow. Finds dating to the English Civil War, evidence relating to the transformation of the site from an aristocractic enclave to a suburb of immigrants, the redevelopment of the area in the 17th and 18th centuries, through to the opening of Spitalfields Market in 1682, brings us full circle.

North west England has largely been neglected in studies of medieval landscapes in favour of the Midlands and East Anglia although it has much to offer. Described here as a `frontier landscape' encompassing the modern regions of Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, the author discusses changes to the medieval landscape and why these occurred. He outlines and characterises the major period of expansion and economic boom that took place in the north west from 1086 to 1349 and asks why political and military matters seen to have had such an important role in landscape change. Issues of perceived marginality are also discussed as Higham looks in turn at the local population and their environment, land use and agrarian practices, woodland, forest and pasture, buildings, farms and estates, markets and fairs and the Church and the landscape. A great addition to the series.

Walking through the British countryside often leaves you with numerous questions and no means of finding the answers in one, readily accessible place. This new encyclopedia by Richard Muir contains almost 1,000 entries which provide explanations of terms, features and concepts connected with the history and archaeology of the landscape. Short definitions and descriptions are joined by longer discussions of themes, concepts and approaches such as the origins of the village green, the parish, milestones, and the meaning of words Dalloch, souterrain and watergate. A useful aid for those investigating the landscape and a handy reference for those who seek a more informed landscape experience.

Funded by English Heritage, the Humber Wetlands Project (1992-2000) sought to identify, survey and study the archaeology of an extensive wetland area of the Humber basin lowlands. This book draws on the findings of that project, placing them within the context of other research carried out in the area and evidence from other regions. The well-preserved archaeological remains document the occupation and exploitation of the area over thousands of years and, in this book, Robert Van de Noort traces how human use and perceptions of the wetlands has changed over the last 10,000 years. What he reveals is that the area has been exploited as a locale for settlement, for its natural resources, its waterways and its role as a spiritual place associated with ancestor cults, since prehistory. The archaeological evidence pointed to profound changes in the use and perception of the wetlands with the arrival of the Romans and with perhaps a retreat to higher ground during the medieval period in response to sea-level changes.

The Peak District has been inhabited by humans for tens of thousands of years, beginning the process that irreperably changed the shape of the landscape. This volume focuses on this relationship between human settlers and farmers and the landscape showing how both have been affected by the other. Following a brief examination of the earliest evidence for hunter-gatherers, principally stone artefacts and cave sites, the authors focus on the activity that, more than anything else, has shaped the landscape that we see today, agriculture. The study searches for evidence of the earliest farmers in the remains of fields, structures, sacred monuments and burials, including over 500 barrows. The authors trace fluctuations in farmers' fortunes, especially during the Iron Age when the climate changed for the worse. Supported by maps, photographs and illustrations, the book discusses the impact of hillforts and the Romans, the increase in mining, Christian monuments, the creation of villages, the uses of woodland, common ground and enclosed areas, the introduction of turnpike roads and the industrial monuments of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is more of a chronological survey than an in-depth study of the Peak District although the narrative is informative if rather impersonal.

For over 500 years, from the middle Iron Age to the early Roman period, the 1st gravel terrace of the river Thames at Thornhill Farm appears to have been lived in and worked as a cattle ranch. Extensive excavations by Oxford Archaeology between 1986 and 1989 revealed large parts of the settlement, including paddocks, stock enclosures and droveways, all designed to control and manage the herds of animals. Evidence for domestic houses points to small family groups living at the site and tending to the livestock. The surrounding gravel terraces and floodplain would have formed open pastureland, upon which lay a number of other settlements, some of which were also operating specialist pastoral economies. The settlement at Thornhill Farm was constantly being developed and remodelled until the early 2nd century AD, when it was replaced by a series of trackways and some of the earliest hay meadows in Britain. What happened to the inhabitants of Thornhill Farm at this time is unknown, but it seems likely that the whole settlement was subsumed into a larger agricultural estate based at neighbouring Claydon Pike. The excavations at Thornhill Farm formed part of a co-ordinated archaeological response to the threat posed by gravel extraction during the creation of the Cotswold Water Park. This book presents the results of this phase of work, and discusses the significance of the site within the local and regional landscape.

In 1995 a second phase of excavations was undertaken by Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) at Reading Business Park in advance of development. This volume reports on the occupation evidence they found dating to the Neolithic, Bronze Age and medieval periods. The Neolithic features included an unusual segmented ring ditch, and a number of pits and postholes, with associated flint assemblages dating to the late Neolithic. A field system, composed of rectangular boundary ditches, was laid out in the area prior to the establishment of the late Bronze Age settlement. The evidence for the late Bronze Age settlement included five roundhouses, and a number of post-built structures. The excavators also found numerous deposits of burnt flint that were made in one area in the later Bronze Age, and over time these grew into a substantial and unusually large elongated burnt mound. The authors discuss the origin of these deposits, together with the management of the overall landscape in the later Bronze Age.

Wimbotsham is one of more than 400 moated sites in Norfolk and was investigated ahead of a sewer being laid by the local water company. This report on the excavation and associated archival research reveals Wimbotsham as a moated rectory, most probably built by the de Warenne family at the end of the 12th century. The excavation found two earth building platforms, a series of internal drainage channels, remains of a 13th- or 14th-century timber-framed building and an assemblage of finds that included domestic and some high-status objects. The site went into decline in the 15th and 16th centuries and was abandoned by 1626.

This is a corpus of the best-preserved earthworks in Norfolk grassland. Each site plan is accompanied by descriptive text and a summary of the documentary evidence. The settlement earthworks are almost entirely medieval and include deserted villages and the more numerous shrunken settlements as well as manorial sites where more than a single moated platform survives. Monastic sites and castles where, in some instances, additional earthworks have been found, form two important sections. Water features include some fishponds together with plans of Norfolk's few water meadows. Ridge and furrow, another rarity in the county, also appears and the survey ends with a selection of parkland earthworks.