Grenville Astill

The Countryside of medieval England

1. The Medieval Countryside: Approaches and Perceptions: Grenville Astill and Annie Grant 2. Documentary Evidence: Problems and Enquiries: Christopher Dyer 3. Rural Settlement - the Toft and the Croft: Grenville Astill 4. Fields: Grenville Astill 5. Agricultural Equipment: John Langdon 6. Plant Resources: James Greig 7. Woods and Parks: Paul Stamper 8. Animal Resources: Annie Grant 9. Human Resources: Richard Smith 10.The Medieval Countryside: Efficiency, Progress and Change: Grenville Astill and Annie Grant.

The Bordesley Abbey Project Reviewed

The Bordesley Abbey Project has widened its horizons as it has developed, linking the core excavation of the abbey church with archaeological fieldwork, both in the outer court and beyond the precinct boundary on the abbeys granges, and with architectural and documentary research. Exceptional preservation is the key to Bordesleys importance—the survival of its precinct as a complete set of earthworks and of the unusually deep and complex stratification, yielding data and artefacts which are both very rich and extensive, and very well stratified, within a finely divided chronology. This review is a preliminary attempt to integrate the different elements, and to highlight the potential of the data now and for the future.

The Changing Monastic Cloister: Excavations in the South Range of Bordesley Abbey

Excavations in the south range of the cloister of Bordesley Abbey have produced an unusual sequence. The construction scheme of the buildings to the south of the cloister arcade—centring on the refectory and kitchen—was piecemeal and took over two hundred years, from the later twelfth to early sixteenth centuries. At an early stage the range included timber (which may have been part of the original temporary structures) and stone buildings. In the fifteenth century there was a major change of use: the refectory became a workshop and dumping area while the kitchen was used for non-ferrous metalworking: these activities probably continued to the Dissolution. The implications of the excavations are considered in the context of the development of the cloister and then the precinct. The important evidence for adaptation and innovation is discussed in the light of work elsewhere in order to argue that the results have a relevance for other Cistercian houses and monasteries in general.

Religious Transformations in the Middle Ages: Towards a New Archaeological Agenda

UNDERSTANDING RELIGIOUS CHANGE between the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Reformation forms one of the cornerstones of medieval archaeology, but has been riven by period, denominational, and geographical divisions. This paper lays the groundwork for a fundamental rethink of archaeological approaches to medieval religions, by adopting an holistic framework that places Christian, pagan, Islamic and Jewish case studies of religious transformation in a long-term, cross-cultural perspective. Focused around the analytical themes of ‘hybridity and resilience’ and ‘tempo and trajectories’, our approach shifts attention away from the singularities of national narratives of religious conversion, towards a deeper understanding of how religious beliefs, practices and identity were renegotiated by medieval people in their daily lives.