The W G Hoskins Lecture 1992

‘Towns and villages in medieval England’ presented by Professor David Palliser

The third Hoskins lecture

9 May 1992

Professor David Palliser’s W. G. Hoskins Lecture attracted a large audience of Friends, friends of
Friends and students, who showed excellent judgement in preferring it to a very wet afternoon in Leicester or the F.A. cup final. It was particularly appropriate that the first lecture after the death of W. G. Hoskins should have been given by a former student who, among a long list of publications, including Tudor York, is the author of the Staffordshire volume in the Making of the English Landscape series. Moreover, in taking ‘Towns and villages in medieval England’ as his theme, Professor Palliser was able to demonstrate with his mentor’s breadth and clarity the way that the orthodoxy on the origins of towns and villages expressed in The Making of the English Landscape has now changed beyond recognition.

Until about twenty years ago the nucleated village was believed to have been a product of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers, while towns were seen as much later features, not arriving until the end of the Anglo-Saxon period or even until after the Conquest. The origin of the open field system was shrouded in mystery. In contrast, it is now believed that nucleated villages did not arise until the ninth century and that almost all originated in the period between 850 and 1200. They are generally only features of the Midlands and of the north and east of England as opposed to the dispersed pattern of the south and west where new scattered settlement was also taking place in this period. The formation of villages coincided with the reorganization of field systems (most of which appear to have been laid out on a regular basis), with the origin of manors as large estates were sub-divided, and with the origin of parishes as minster parochiae were broken up into smaller units. The development of towns from the Mercian and Wessex burhs onwards appears to have been taking place over the same period as the development of nucleated villages.

Following his outline of these new views, Professor Palliser examined town plans in comparison with village plans. He considered that the detailed typologies of villages developed by Brian Roberts and others were sometimes difficult to justify, but that villages could be broadly divided into three categories: those that had been laid out at one time, composite villages with an original core and planned additions and villages arising from the aggregation of two or more foci. He conceded that some nucleated villages may have arisen from concerted peasant action, but towns were definitely founded by individuals, initially by kings and subsequently by lay and ecclesiastical lords. Indeed it may have been that towns came before nucleated villages, which developed from the royal or lordly example of towns. After a helpful discussion the audience adjourned to Marc Fitch House where we were able to digest a rewarding lecture over an equally rewarding tea.

From an original report by Philip Masters.