Modelling Urban Renewal and Growth in Britain and North-West Europe, AD 800-1300: The Wallingford Burh to Borough Project

模拟公元 800-1300 年英国和西北欧的城市更新和增长：Wallingford Burh 至 Borough 项目

• 批准号: AH/E008968/1
• 负责人: Neil Christie
• 金额: $ 41.41万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FE008968%2F1
• 关键词: Modelling; Urban; Renewal; Growth; Britain

Wallingford in south Oxfordshire is justly renowned as a remarkable example of an historic defended town that retains an especially well-preserved medieval town plan. Located alongside a major crossing of the River Thames, Wallingford's compact core is encircled by banks and ditches likely to date from the time of its establishment as a burh (or defended centre) in the late Saxon period. In the circuit's north-east corner are extensive earthworks relating to a Norman royal castle, while the gridded street network also features medieval churches, a (lost) Benedictine priory and numerous other medieval buildings. Consequently, Wallingford has been viewed as a 'classic' site in British medieval archaeology, frequently cited as an exemplar of both late Saxon planned town formation and Norman castle imposition. Yet despite this status, the true research potential of Wallingford remains to be exploited; indeed, without detailed new research, no advances can be made on understanding Wallingford's contribution to a broader picture of medieval urban origins and evolution. Fundamental questions remain unanswered. For example, while Wallingford is commonly held to be a late Saxon plantation, 'stray' archaeological artefacts and unpublished excavations (including Iron Age coins, Roman finds and early Saxon burials) suggest more complex origins. The full layout of the Saxon town remains uncertain, while the impact of the Norman castle and priory on the town requires close scrutiny. Our project aims to decipher this remarkable historic townscape and to develop a case-study of international significance that elucidates the nature of medieval urban transformation in the period c.800-1300. Debates on early medieval urban renewal are already active on the Continent, but Britain lags behind and this project will enable fuller engagement on key academic issues on pre-modern urbanism.Importantly, economic stagnation in the late medieval and early modern periods means that various zones of Wallingford lie open: the areas of the Bullcroft, Kinecroft and Castle Meadows together occupy over one third of the area within the defences; the town ramparts are well preserved (if badly neglected); and riverside development is limited. In sharp contrast to most historic towns, where occupation has been continuous, these open zones enable use of non-invasive archaeological survey to map 'buried' features of the plan. The documentary record is also rich, holding potential to illuminate the development of Wallingford's topography and economy. Moreover, previous excavations have highlighted the excellent preservation of below-ground archaeological deposits: in particular, extensive work in the 1960s and 70s on cob buildings at the castle, on a Saxon street frontage, and on the north gate and ramparts revealed excellent structural and artefactual data. In addition, from the 1990s, many small-scale developer-funded excavations have taken place, providing tantalising glimpses of Wallingford's medieval past. None of these previous works have been fully published, however, and an integral part of this project is to write up these excavations and to integrate the results with new data derived from a comprehensive urban archaeological survey supplemented by targeted excavation. The Wallingford Research Project has been conceived by a cross-institutional team at Leicester, Exeter and Oxford Universities as a research programme integrating archaeological, topographical and documentary data sources. Pilot studies in 2002-5 allowed preliminary geophysical mapping of the town's open spaces and identified fascinating new components to the plan. Major funding is now required to take this project to the next, intensive level with the three year programme, targeted at full archaeological scrutiny of the townscape and its hinterland, enabling precision mapping and analysis of Wallingford and its plan, and realising the rich research potential of this historic centre.

牛津郡南部的沃灵福德理所当然地被认为是一个历史守卫城镇的杰出典范，它保留了特别保存完好的中世纪城镇规划。沃林福德位于泰晤士河的一条主要渡口旁，紧凑的核心地带被堤岸和沟渠环绕，这些堤岸和沟渠很可能是从撒克逊晚期建立起作为堡垒(或防御中心)的时候开始的。在赛道的东北角是与诺曼皇家城堡有关的大片土方工程，而网格状的街道网络也以中世纪教堂、(失落的)本笃会修道院和许多其他中世纪建筑为特色。因此，沃灵福德一直被视为英国中世纪考古学的经典遗址，经常被认为是晚期撒克逊人规划的城镇形成和诺曼城堡强加的典范。然而，尽管有这种状况，沃林福德的真正研究潜力仍有待开发；事实上，如果没有详细的新研究，就无法在理解沃林福德对更广泛的中世纪城市起源和演化图景的贡献方面取得进展。根本问题仍未得到解答。例如，虽然沃林福德通常被认为是撒克逊晚期的种植园，但流浪的考古文物和未公布的发掘(包括铁器时代的硬币、罗马发现的文物和早期撒克逊人的埋葬)表明，起源更为复杂。撒克逊小镇的完整布局仍不确定，而诺曼城堡和修道院对小镇的影响需要密切关注。我们的项目旨在破译这一非凡的历史城镇景观，并开发一个具有国际意义的案例研究，阐明公元800-1300年期间中世纪城市转型的性质。关于中世纪早期城市更新的辩论在欧洲大陆已经很活跃了，但英国落后了，这个项目将使人们能够更充分地参与到关于前现代城市化的关键学术问题上。重要的是，中世纪晚期和早期现代时期的经济停滞意味着瓦林福德的各个区域都是开放的：Bullcroft、Kinecroft和Castle Meadoss地区总共占据了防御系统内面积的三分之一以上；城镇城墙保存完好(如果严重被忽视)；河边开发有限。与大多数持续被占领的历史城镇形成鲜明对比的是，这些开放区域允许使用非侵入性的考古调查来绘制该规划的“埋藏”地貌。纪录片记录也很丰富，有潜力照亮沃林福德的地形和经济发展。此外，以前的发掘工作突出了地下考古沉积物的良好保存：特别是20世纪60年代和70年代对城堡、撒克逊街道正面以及北门和城墙的核心建筑进行的广泛工作，揭示了极好的结构和文物数据。此外，自20世纪90年代以来，许多由开发商出资的小规模挖掘已经发生，让人们对沃林福德的中世纪历史有了诱人的一瞥。然而，这些以前的作品都没有完全出版，这个项目的一个组成部分是记录这些发掘，并将结果与从全面的城市考古调查中获得的新数据结合起来，并进行有针对性的挖掘。沃林福德研究项目是由莱斯特大学、埃克塞特大学和牛津大学的一个跨机构团队构思的，作为一个整合考古、地形学和文献数据来源的研究计划。2002-2005年的试点研究对该镇的空地进行了初步的地球物理测绘，并确定了规划中引人入胜的新内容。现在需要大量资金将这个项目带到下一个密集的水平，三年计划的目标是对城镇景观及其腹地进行全面的考古审查，使沃灵福德及其规划能够精确测绘和分析，并实现这个历史中心丰富的研究潜力。

项目成果

'New directions in tracing the origins and development of Wallingford: targets and results of the Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project'

“追踪沃灵福德起源和发展的新方向：沃灵福德布尔至自治市镇研究项目的目标和结果”

• 发表时间: 2009
• 期刊: The Origins of the Borough of Wallingford. Archaeological and Historical Perspectives
• 作者: Creighton, O

'Comparing burhs: a Wallingford - Bedford case study'

“比较布尔斯：沃灵福德 - 贝德福德案例研究”

• 发表时间: 2009
• 期刊: The Origins of the Borough of Wallingford. Archaeological and Historical Perspectives
• 作者: Edgeworth, M.

Civil War bastion at the Barbican at Wallingford Castle, South Oxfordshire (SU 60870 89792)

南牛津郡沃灵福德城堡巴比肯的内战堡垒 (SU 60870 89792)

• 发表时间: 2011
• 期刊: South Midlands Archaeology
• 作者: Christie, N.

Wallingford: The Castle and the Town in Context

沃灵福德：城堡和城镇的背景

• 发表时间: 2015
• 作者: Christie, N.

Have you found anything interesting?' Exploring early medieval and medieval urbanism at Wallingford: sources, routes and questions'

你发现什么有趣的事了吗？

• 发表时间: 2010
• 期刊: Oxoniensia
• 作者: Christie, N.