Raunds: The Origin and Growth of a Midland Village, AD 450-1500. Excavations in North Raunds, Northamptonshire 1977-87

The excavations in Raunds between 1977 and 1987 formed part of the Raunds Area Project - a major programme of archaeological research into landscape development in Northamptonshire and the wider midland region of England. This volume presents the results of open area excavation in north Raunds, work of great significance in developing our understanding of the origins of the English village. The excavation focused in particular on the evolution of Furnells Manor, and examined the processes of village development from the early Saxon period through to the desertion of the outlying manorial centres at the end of the medieval period. Most significantly, it defined the formation of a village in a system of regular plots created by the mid tenth century, probably following the English reconquest and the creation of the Danelaw, as part of a widespread reorganisation and nucleation of settlement. The work began a transformation of medieval settlement studies.