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The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey

Introduction

Towns have played an important role in the history of England over the last 2000 years, and the inhabitants of towns have always played a dominant role in economic, social and political life. Towns provided a market for crops and meat produced in the surrounding countryside, and supplied needs that could not be met in villages and hamlets. These needs ranged from everyday supplies such as farm tools and cloth, to social needs such as justice and defence. Towns were in turn dependent on the countryside for food and other essential supplies.

Towns contained a specialist population varying through time and circumstances, including amongst others: traders, artisans, clerics, administrators, soldiers, entertainers, beggars and thieves. This varied population left its mark in the physical fabric of the town. Beneath modern streets there lie metres of buried layers, including building foundations, streets, gardens and cesspits. These layers contain huge quantities of domestic rubbish and industrial waste, and have great potential for revealing evidence about life in the past. Archaeologists can study the food people ate, the illnesses they suffered and died from, the tools they made and used, the goods they traded and the coinage they spent, and the buildings they lived and worshipped in.

Historic towns in Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire

The historic counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire contain a range of towns of different histories and sizes. The earliest were founded at the beginning of the Roman period (AD 50 - 400) when Viroconium (at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury) was a regional capital. In the Anglo-Saxon period (AD 400 - 1066) towns were small at first, but from around AD 900 began to grow in size and number. New towns were founded in the medieval period (AD 1066 -1500), and in the 18th and 19th century further new towns appeared as manufacturing and transportation centres of the Industrial Revolution.

The changing needs and wishes of people in the past resulted in a large number of places that were towns at one time or another. Some continued to flourish and are still thriving centres of population but others declined and are now only villages, or even lie abandoned under fields.

The survey

The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey provided an assessment of the historic towns of the modern counties of Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire. It looked at a great range of settlements, from Roman towns such as Magnis (Kenchester), now open fields, to towns founded in the post-medieval period such as Stourport.

While individual towns were studied, no overall surveys of the historic towns of the region have been carried out to date. The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey was mostly desk-based and a wide range of sources were consulted: the county Sites and Monuments Records, published books and unpublished reports, documentary sources, early maps, finds and environmental material. There were also field visits to all the towns in the survey area. All the information gathered will be studied and then published as a major source of information.

Protecting sites

Historic towns are often modern settlements with contemporary needs for development. Buried archaeological layers are easily destroyed by modern building foundations and by trenches for services such as sewers and water pipes. The towns that have been abandoned and are now farmland are also vulnerable, and may be damaged by changes in agricultural practices or by rural developments such as roads, pipelines and forestry. The first step in protecting this buried archaeology is to know where it exists. The task of the Central Marches Historic Towns Survey was to improve the current understanding of the archaeology of all the towns in the survey area.

Within towns some sites may be Scheduled Ancient Monuments, protected by central government. The majority of archaeological sites, however, are protected by local authorities as part of their planning responsibilities. A further task of the Central Marches Historic Towns Survey was to improve the archaeological management framework for towns for the benefit of archaeologists, planners, landowners and developers alike.

The Sites and Monuments Record

Information on all known archaeological sites in the counties of Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire is held in the Sites and Monuments Records for the two counties. These are made up of maps, computer files, and supporting material such as excavation reports. The Sites and Monuments Record forms an index to many other kinds of information, including aerial photographs, surveys of buildings, archaeological journals and books, and documentary sources and maps.

The Sites and Monuments Records are available for consultation by the public, by appointment. To find out about the archaeological sites in your area you should first contact:

(for Worcestershire)
County Archaeological Service, Worcestershire County Council, Woodbury, University College Worcester, Henwick Grove, Worcester, WR24 6AJ
Tel: (01905) 855494 Fax (01905) 855035

(for Herefordshire)
Herefordshire Archaeology, Herefordshire Council, PO Box 3, Leominster, Hereofrdshire, HR6 8LU
Tel (01432) 260130

(for Shropshire)
County Sites and Monuments Record, Property and Planning Services Department, Shropshire County Council, The Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6ND
Tel (01743) 252563

The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey was funded by English Heritage, managed by the Archaeological Service of thre then Hereford and Worcester County Council in liaison with Shropshire County Council. The University of Birmingham provided specialist advice and assistance, as did the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, the City of Hereford Archaeology Unit and Worcester City Council Archaeological Section.