For the first time, the authors draw together a variety of evidence to reveal the chronologies, functions, structures, and social significance of urban defences in Britain. They show that the walls and their related structures are a mixture of military pragmatism, commercial logic, and symbolism.

Medieval Town Walls: An Archaeology and Social History of Urban Defence

Arts & Photography

Creighton, Oliver

Higham, Robert

History & Criticism

The History Press

Medieval castles were, alongside the great cathedrals, the most recognisable buildings of the medieval world. Closely associated with concepts of justice, lordship and authority as well as military might, castles came to encapsulate the period's very essence. 
Looking at above and below-ground evidence and examining a wide variety of sites - from towering donjons to earth and timber castles - in different parts of western Europe, this book explores the relationship between early castle building and the emergence of a new aristocracy and investigates the impact of authority on the organisation of the landscape.

Early European Castles: Aristocracy and Authority, AD 800-1200 (Debates in Archaeology)

History

Europe

Bristol Classical Press

The phrase "designed landscape" is generally associated with the great parks and gardens of the post-medieval period, with grand country houses surrounded by parkland, such as Chatsworth and Longleat. However, recent research has made it clear that its origins lie much further back than that, in the middle ages, and numerous examples have been identified. This book offers the first full-length survey of designed medieval landscapes, not just the settings for castles, but for palaces, manor houses and monastic institutions. Gardens and pleasure grounds gave their owners sensory enjoyment; lakes, ponds and walkways created routes of approach that displayed residences to best effect; deer parks were stunning backdrops and venues for aristocratic enjoyment; and peacocks, swans, rabbits and doves were some of the many species which lent these landscapes their elite appearance. Richly illustrated with plans, maps, and photographs of key sites showing what can still be seen today. Oliver H. Creighton is Associate Professor in Archaeology, University of Exeter

Designs Upon the Land: Elite Landscapes of the Middle Ages (Garden and Landscape History) (Volume 1)

Creighton, Oliver H.

Boydell Press

This monograph 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. Core questions running through the volume relate to the roles of the River Thames and of royal power in shaping Wallingford’s fortunes and identity and in explaining the town’s severe and early decline.

Transforming Townscapes: From Burh to Borough: the Archaeology of Wallingford, AD 800-1400 (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs)

Christie, Neil

Hamerow, Helena

Edgeworth, Matt

Routledge

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