West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 5: Bryant
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Medieval Worcestershire : priorities and potential
Victoria Bryant
Worcestershire Archaeological Service
Vbryant@worcestershire.gov.uk
This document covers the main points of the paper given at the West Midlands
Research Frameworks Seminar on the 24th February 2003. A more detailed paper will
be produced in due course. The ideas in this overview have benefited greatly from
discussions with my colleagues Darren Millar, Hal Dalwood and Neil Lockett.
1. Medieval Worcestershire - the nature of the evidence
A general search of recorded sites of medieval date on the Sites and Monuments
Record indicates a fairly even coverage across the county but this is deceptive. Such
sites include earthworks, excavations and programmes of fieldwalking but also poorly
located finds and place-name evidence. The quality of the data is patchy and its
distribution is skewed by factors such as the presence of an active local historical
society or differing farming regimes. Modern professional data collection is equally
patchy, being concentrated in the areas most threatened by development. Whilst small
scale PPG 16 driven fieldwork is not the best way to collect evidence of the medieval
or any other period it has provided a body of additional data which could be used to
start addressing some basic research questions and inform debate. Unfortunately most
of it has not.
Important fieldwork and analysis has been undertaken on specific sites such as
Bordesley Abbey (Astill 1993; Hirst et al 1983) and on aspects of the landscape (Dyer
1991), but for most of the county the available data is largely unassimilated.
Urban areas have fared rather better. The City of Worcester is at present compiling an
urban archaeological database. The 11 small medieval towns of the county were
assessed as part of the extensive urban survey of the small towns of Herefordshire,
Worcestershire and Shropshire in the early 1990s (Dalwood and Buteux 1995). This
latter project has had a marked effect on our ability to justify fieldwork in small towns
in Worcestershire and to place the findings in an academic context. It only serves to
emphasize the need for such synthesis over a much larger area.
2. The Landscape: continuation and change
Worcestershire includes champion land with nucleated villages and open arable fields
in the centre and south-east of the county and, to the west and north, woodland/woodpasture with piece-meal enclosure and a more mixed economy including small scale
industry.
Roberts and Wrathmell (2000) in their study of rural settlement in England, based
largely on 19th century map evidence, divide Worcestershire into three zones. The
boundaries of these are debated by many scholars but they provide a useful starting
point for discussion.
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The Wye –Teme area to the west. This area is one of predominantly dispersed
settlement. Nucleated settlements are mainly market towns or small hamlets. The area
was densely settled by 1086 but with much woodland still present. Roberts and
Wrathmell note that this area is very important and may be the “least damaged set of
old landscapes in the country ” (Roberts and Wrathmell 2000, 56)
The West Midlands area to the northeast This area is made up of low plateau and
low escarpments. It was still well wooded in 1086. This area has some nucleated
settlements but has more dispersed settlement than Warwickshire in the east. The
nucleated settlements tend to be small. This area still contains surviving “classic”
medieval woodland. The parishes of Pendock and Hanbury have been studied by
Chris Dyer (Dyer 1991, Dyer 1994).
The Cotswold scarp and vale area to the south east This is the area of nucleated
villages with open fields, although some dispersed settlement does exist.
2.2 Research questions
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How did this pattern emerge?
How much did the earlier Roman and post-Roman settlement patterns affect the
development of the medieval landscape?
What other factors led to the patterns observed in this area?
These topics are much debated both nationally and regionally. Farming methods must
to some extent be determined by topography and soils but it is clear that many other
factors are at work. Dyer notes that the woodland areas such as Feckenham Forest did
not necessarily have poorer soils than the fields of the nucleated villages in the southeast (Dyer 1994).
The social and economic divisions before the Middle Ages must also have played
some part – but how much? There is a suggestion that Roman estate boundaries
survive into the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods in a number of places in the
county but does this indicate a continuity of farming regime? Clearly some woodland
regeneration did occur, however, and in the north of the county there are examples of
lands assarted from wood pasture in the 13th century which were once Roman
cornfields (Dyer 1994, 17).
Distinctive nucleated settlement originated in association with the growth of regular
field systems but who drove this process? Some scholars suggest that nucleation was
driven by lords or by peasants or was a by-product of the pressures on land of a
growing population. Evidence for and against these ideas can be found locally and
nationally.
2.2 How do we move forward?
One thing is clear – the situation is complex and cannot be understood by using
individual sources of evidence. The study of landscape as Dyer and others have
shown is best pursued by employing the disciplines of archaeology, history and
historical geography. Truly interdisciplinary projects are the best way forward. They
need to be undertaken at first with a rather broad brush to provide a framework into
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which small scale projects such as field-walking, survey, air photographic survey and
excavation can be slotted. Particular attention needs to be paid to
 Settlements in woodland areas
 Dispersed settlement generally (the work of Chris Dyer has shown the value of
such studies).
 The landscape as one unit (including towns)
 Environmental work to determine where regeneration of woodland or expansion
or arable cultivation has occurred. Unfortunately ideal sites are still not always
routinely sampled in PPG16 led work.
3. Settlement: growth and decay
Whilst dispersed settlement seems to have been the norm in the prehistoric and
Roman periods in Worcestershire the village as a distinctive nucleated settlement
originated in an evolutionary process, probably in the 7th to 11th centuries in
association with the growth of regular field systems (Dyer 1994, 11). The bulk of
planned villages in Worcestershire probably date to the 11th or 12th centuries. New
dispersed settlements including moats were also created in this period.
The majority of the medieval towns of Worcestershire (Worcester, Pershore,
Evesham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Clifton and possibly Tenbury) had
their origins in settlements next to Late Saxon ecclesiastical centres although only
Worcester, Droitwich, Pershore and possibly Evesham were urban prior to the
Conquest. Upton, Redditch, Alvechurch and Bewdley were medieval foundations.
Both rural and urban settlements flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. Dyer has
suggested that the town dwelling population was possibly about 10% in 11th century
and grew to c 20% by 1300 and remained at this level throughout the medieval period
(Dyer 1994, xv). The archaeological evidence for expansion comes, however, largely
from urban areas and reflects both previous research agendas and the distribution of
PPG 16 led archaeological fieldwork. Very little archaeological work has been
undertaken on rural settlement in Worcestershire.
One research topic which has provoked heated debate and which I believe
archaeology can provide a significant contribution to is the effects of the famines and
plagues of the 14th century on the rural and urban landscapes of Worcestershire.
Desertion is not a late medieval phenomenon. It is clear, however, that from the 14th
and 15th centuries there was a shrinking of settlement both in the countryside and
towns and in some cases complete desertion. Dyer has made a convincing argument
that in Worcestershire this was not a retreat from marginal land (Dyer 1994, 14-16)
but he suggests that the bulk of desertion occurred in the champion landscapes in SE
(Dyer 1994, 19-22).
Plot of known deserted medieval villages/hamlets in
Worcestershire
Data provided by the Historic Environment Record
Settlement zones based on 19th map data from Roberts and
Wrathmell 2000
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In fact what evidence we have suggests that deserted settlements occur over the whole
county. The loss of hamlets in the north is not so well documented as the desertion of
villages and the lower numbers in that area may be more a reflection of lack of
fieldwork rather than reality
Desertion of towns started in the early 14th century and continued into the 15th
century. The towns of Redditch and Clifton upon Teme were no longer urban by the
post-medieval period but the chronology of their decline is not clear. The rest of
Worcestershire’s towns continued to have urban functions but what evidence there is
indicates a reduction in size.
For example, in both Pershore and Evesham we have evidence of tenement plots
becoming gardens in the late 14th century. In Pershore the excavated area does not go
back to domestic/commercial usage until the 19th century. In Worcester, excavations
close to the city centre at Deansway reveal areas which have intensive occupation
before the later 14th century but which become gardens and industrial areas at that
period. These areas revert to domestic/commercial buildings in one area by the late
15th century and in the other by the later 16th century (Dalwood and Edwards
forthcoming).
The apparent difference in recovery rates between the small towns and the county
town possibly reflects the broader commercial basis of Worcester. This may have
been exacerbated by migration to Worcester from the country side or from the smaller
towns themselves. If this is the case it would explain why Worcester appears to
recover faster than Pershore from the disasters of the 14th century.
3.1 Research questions?
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What was the effect of the events of the 14th century on urban and rural
settlements in Worcestershire?
How does this compare with other areas in the region or nationally?
Which types of settlements were most affected?
How long did the process of abandonment take?
How long did the period of recovery take?
3.2 How do we move forward?
To answer questions such as these location and chronology become very important.
Location In towns we need to pay particular attention to excavations/evaluations in
the suburbs where we know that fluctuations in population are more noticeable. In the
countryside we need to start by acquiring some data. In Worcestershire we have very
little excavated evidence from rural settlement and almost none from the “successful”
medieval villages. What very little we have from surviving villages such as
Sedgberrow suggests a shrinkage during or after the medieval period with expansion
not occurring again until the 18th or 19th centuries - but this really is very tentative.
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Chronology Absolute dates are important, of course, but in most cases the dating of
pottery fabrics and forms is advanced enough to provide the information needed
www.worcestershireceramics.org. Unfortunately small finds assemblages are often
not considered important enough to be assessed by a specialist and vital dating and
other evidence is overlooked. Both the curator and the contractor need to be aware of
the necessity for as much accuracy as possible in dating the sequences of even the
smallest evaluation trenches.
4. Industry, marketing and trade
Worcestershire’s main industry was agriculture or manufacture linked to agricultural
products. With the exception of industries such as salt making at Droitwich most
industrial production during this period occurred in a small scale domestic context and
there is little evidence of zoning of industrial production in the towns in
Worcestershire until the post-medieval period.
Many industries which are known, from historical sources, to have been very
important in Worcestershire, such as cloth manufacture, are hard to define through
excavation and we have little information from small towns generally. In other cases
archaeological evidence has provided a vital insight into the workings of an industry.
For example salt production at Droitwich was an industry of national importance in
the medieval period and very well documented. Excavations at the brine well,
however, have recovered well preserved remains of the machinery and processes
themselves (Hurst 1997)
The importance of towns such as Bewdley and Worcester in marketing and trade is
well known but little archaeological attention has been paid to the importance of
market villages and fairs in the distribution of goods. Sites of fairs have been
identified by metal detector finds of coins in fields adjacent to a number of villages
but more work on identifying these sites needs to be done.
Much of the work on medieval industry, marketing and trade has been undertaken by
historians. Archaeology does contribute, of course, but is particularly useful in
illuminating industries so humble that that there is little documentation – for example
the production of pottery. Large pottery assemblages from consumer sites such as
Worcester provide direct information on the rise and fall of the domestic-scale pottery
producers around the city and their response to market pressures. These can provide
very local examples of wider regional and national economic trends (Bryant
forthcoming).
3.1 What are the research questions?
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Where were the rural markets?
How did production and marketing work on a local level?
3.2 How do we move forward?
It is clear that such a topic cannot be understood by using individual sources of
evidence. It is necessary for archaeologists to address the large corpus of historical
work on the subject in tandem with the archaeological evidence to enable us to define
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the most achievable and productive goals for future research. Whilst this has not yet
been done for Worcestershire it is clear that the potential of environmental
archaeology has not been realised. It is not acceptable to overlook the traces of
industries which leave little structural or artefactual evidence when they may be
identified by other means.
4. Monasticism and the church
In this section I do not want to discuss how Worcestershire might contribute to an
understanding of the spread of religious orders or details of architecture although
these are of course important topics.
I intend only to focus briefly on the effect of the church and its institutions on the
landscape.
A very large percentage of Worcestershire was owned by the church and about half
the medieval towns were religious foundations. In other counties the towns founded
by bishops seem to have been more resilient to the social and economic disasters of
the 14th century than those founded by secular lords - perhaps due to the greater
financial reserves of the church. This does not seem to be the case in Worcestershire.
In the countryside the growth of church building, often pushed by secular lords, and
the development of the parish system was occurring from the 10th into the 12th
century. The urban and rural landscape was also changing at this time and the two
cannot be seen separately. The church had a profound effect on the landscape of
Worcestershire and the lives of the medieval inhabitants of the county.
4.1 Research questions?
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What was the chronology of
urban and rural church foundation in
Worcestershire?
What was the effect of monasteries on the towns and countryside around them
and vice versa?
What was the difference between ecclesiastical and secular landlords?
4.2 How do we move forward?
In Worcestershire we have a good record of the location of parish churches and
surviving architectural detail. We do not, however, have a dynamic model which
encompasses when and by whom the church was founded or what changes have
occurred to the status of the church or the shape of the graveyard/precinct. The
answers to such questions can have a profound effect on our understanding of the
place of the church within the community and could be investigated using a
combination of fieldwork and historical research.
With the exception of the work at Bordesley Abbey (Astill 1993) most of the work on
monastic sites within the county has been focused on the religious buildings. Much
more archaeological work needs to be undertaken on how both monastic and secular
sites operated within local market economies.
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5. Castles
Worcestershire does not have large numbers of castles, in part because so much of the
land was owned by the church. Most of the castles in the county were short lived,
probably timber structures of which we know almost nothing. The only modern
excavations to have taken place at castle sites were small scale evaluations on the
totally demolished sites of Evesham and Worcester castles.
Location of known castles in
Worcestershire
Data provided by the Historic Environment Record
5.1 Research questions?
For Worcestershire the research questions are very basic. We need to know a great
deal more about all aspects of the castles in the county.
5.2 How do we move forward?
Such sites are not generally threatened by development and so to advance
understanding research excavations are needed.
6. The implications of pursuing these priorities and wider research agendas in a
developer related context.
I have approached this topic with a particular agenda and that is the need to define
landscape-based research questions. There are, of course, many other, equally valid,
ways of addressing the priorities and potential of this period but I see this as a way in
which we can effectively use the data we have to move forward. The implications of a
landscape based approach are
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We must undertake interdisciplinary projects
We must have access to high quality data
The use of GIS for recording and analysis is essential
When identifying research priorities we need to distinguish between the wider vision
of where we want to go and the short terms ways of getting there. Some questions can
be answered by smaller scale PPG 16 led archaeology, others can only be answered
by the synthesis of this type of work in combination with all other available sources.
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In my opinion the only viable way of putting all this together on a county or regional
scale is to use GIS and the most sensible place for this data to be held is the SMR.
Historically SMRs have been funded to fulfill development control functions. Not
surprisingly they are only useful for very basic research and this is the case for all
periods and all topics. We need to change them. I would like a discussion of the ways
and means of transforming SMRs into research, as well as development control,
tools to be a significant part of any documents resulting from these seminars. We need
to use SMRs to create a research cycle where curatorial decisions are informed by a
proper understanding of the resource and its potential; fieldwork and post-excavation
is informed by an understanding of the context of any discoveries; and researchers can
gain easy access to high quality data.
A proposition for such an SMR (or Historic Environment Record) can be found at
www.worcestershire.gov.uk/home/cs-archeo-her
Bibliography
Astill G. G. 1993 A medieval industrial complex and its landscape: the metalworking
watermills and workshops of Bordesley Abbey, Council for British Archaeology
Research Reports 92, York.
Bryant, V forthcoming The Medieval And Early Post-Medieval Pottery in Dalwood
And Edwards (Eds) Deansway, Worcester: Excavations By Charles Mundy 1988-89
CBA Research Report
Dalwood , C and Buteux, V 1995 Urban Archaeological Assessment Reports HWCC
Internal Report Series (64 Reports In Total For Counties Of Herefordshire,
Worcestershire And Shropshire)
Dalwood And Edwards (eds) forthcoming Deansway, Worcester: Excavations By
Charles Mundy 1988-89 CBA Research Report
Dyer, C 1991 Hanbury: Settlement and Society in a Woodland Landscape,
Department of English Local History, Occasional papers, 4th series, 4, Leicester
University Press
Dyer, C 1994 Everyday Life in Medieval England
Hirst S. M., Walsh D. A. and Wright S. M. 1983 Bordesley Abbey II. Second report
on excavations at Bordesley Abbey, Redditch, Hereford-Worcestershire, British
Archaeological Reports 111, Oxford.
Hurst, J D 1997 A multi-period salt production site at Droitwich: excavations at
Upwich, CBA Research Report 107
Roberts, B and Wrathmell, S 2000 An Atlas of Rural Settlement in England