In recent years archaeology has contributed much to our understanding of medieval towns.

‘The early 5th century saw a collapse of the Roman Empire in the west. Coinage no longer reached Britain after AD 402, and within thirty years manufacturing industries had vanished. The economy and political organization returned to a prehistoric state.’ (Carrington, 1994, 50). This is evident from archaeological excavations in and around medieval towns and also from historical records that simply do not seem to exist for the 5th to the 7th centuries. Urban archaeology begins after the last war when many medieval and Roman discoveries were made in cities like London, Canterbury and Shepherd.

When the Romans withdraw from in Britain at around 410 the British economy stagnated. The old Roman towns were abandoned and we have the so-called Dark Ages of the 5th until the 7th centuries. London for example seems to have virtually disappeared from historical record. Similar to what happened to towns such as Chester during this period. To what extend London would have been occupied during this period is not quite clear, but it doe

It has to be said that London excavation of course have revealed a lot of information about medieval towns and gave archaeologists an idea about housing establishment, remodelling and the organisation of the English medieval town. There is however always an exception and room for new interpretation must be left open. Medieval London gives a general idea about the medieval town in Britain but it can not be taken for granted that every town developed in the same way as London did.

Thomas, C., 2002, The Archaeology of Medieval London, Sutton Publishing Ltd., Schofield, J. and Vince, A., 1994, Medieval Towns, Leicester University Press, London

s seem possible that it would have ‘remained a centre of some importance, a place of refuge if not an urban centre’ (Schofield, 1999).

Some topics in this essay:
Fire London, Bowsher Malcolm, Medieval London, Prior Londoners, Britain AD, Dark Ages, Schofield Vince, Opera House, , Lincoln Southampton, medieval london, medieval towns, bowsher malcolm, royal opera, opera house, medieval town, royal opera house, bowsher malcolm 1999, malcolm 1999, saxon settlement lundenwic, press london, university press, 1994 medieval, schofield vince 1994, malcolm 1999 11,