Overview

Transforming Townscapes details the results of a major archaeological project based on and around the historic town of Wallingford in south Oxfordshire. Founded in the late Saxon period as a key defensive and administrative focus next to the Thames, the settlement also contained a substantial royal castle established shortly after the Norman Conquest. The volume traces the pre-town archaeology of Wallingford and then analyses the town’s physical and social evolution, assessing defences, churches, housing, markets, material culture, coinage, communications and hinterland.

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9781909662094

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Reviews

This is a major landmark in urban history, both in terms of the scope of the project and the techniques used. It should also stimulate further discussion about the strategies of urban archaeology, particularly for those smaller or undeveloped towns which have thin stratigraphy and open areas which call out for investigation. -- Grenville Astill Antiquity This satisfying and wide-ranging book, the major academic output of the community-based Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project, publishes the results of important but long-archived excavations on the castle,defences and town. -- Nigel Baker British Archaeology this is an excellent book setting standards for both the design and publication of research projects in the United Kingdom and beyond. In addition to successfully addressing methodological challenges of urban archaeology, it makes an important contribution to current debates in medieval archaeology -- Hajnalka Herold European Journal of Archaeology Wallingford counts as something of a 'classic' site for British medieval archaeology, potentially a textbook example of how a newly founded defended settlement evolved into today's market town, and this book does full justice to that potential, showing just in what ways Wallingford does and does not help inform us about wider questions to do with the dynamics of urban growth and decline. SALON - The Society of Antiquaries Online Newsletter Di grande interesse in questo progetto e stato il modo in cui la comunita locale e stata inserita nel processo archeologico, affinche giocasse un ruolo attivo e dinamico nel determinare la strategia della ricerca,lo sviluppo del progetto e l'attivita didisseminazione. -- Alexandra Chavarria Arnau European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies

Wallingford counts as something of a 'classic' site for British medieval archaeology, potentially a textbook example of how a newly founded defended settlement evolved into today's market town, and this book does full justice to that potential, showing just in what ways Wallingford does and does not help inform us about wider questions to do with the dynamics of urban growth and decline. SALON - The Society of Antiquaries Online Newsletter December 2013

this is an excellent book setting standards for both the design and publication of research projects in the United Kingdom and beyond. In addition to successfully addressing methodological challenges of urban archaeology, it makes an important contribution to current debates in medieval archaeology -- European Journal of Archaeology Transforming Townscapes Wallingford counts as something of a 'classic' site for British medieval archaeology, potentially a textbook example of how a newly founded defended settlement evolved into today's market town, and this book does full justice to that potential, showing just in what ways Wallingford does and does not help inform us about wider questions to do with the dynamics of urban growth and decline. -- SALON - The Society of Antiquaries Online Newslett Transforming Townscapes Di grande interesse in questo progetto e stato il modo in cui la comunita locale e stata inserita nel processo archeologico, affinche giocasse un ruolo attivo e dinamico nel determinare la strategia della ricerca,lo sviluppo del progetto e l'attivita didisseminazione. -- European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies Transforming Townscapes Its curious story, a development in reverse from regional power-centre to sleepy provincial market town, is told here, through the medium of archaeology and topography. This reviewer visited the project's excavations on a number of occasions and was impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of those taking part. Running a complex collaborative project like this, to funders' demanding timescales, and producing a major publication within only a few years is a significant achievement which merits great praise. -- Medieval Archaeology Transforming Townscapes

Author Information

Neil Christie

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