St Albans

Urban Archaeological Assessment

 

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Hertfordshire

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St Albans

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Alban's buried towns : an assessment of St Albans' archaeology up to AD 1610

By Rosalind Niblett

Reference copies are held at HALS and the St Albans Library

The following extensive description was found online.

St Albans (Albans Buried Towns) is the first in a series of detailed assessments of the archaeology of more than 30 English towns. Funded by English Heritage, the series is based on computerised databases linked to Geographical Information Systems. The St Albans archaeological database covers an area of twelve square kilometres comprising the sites of the prehistoric, Roman and medieval settlements, and spans the period from the end of the final Ice Age to the dissolution of St Albans Abbey in 1538. The database includes more than 1500 entries. This book represents the systematic synthesis of the material and provides an up-to-date and definitive overview of the current state of archaeology in the town, together with discussions of its value and potential. There are more than 160 plans and photographs and the appendices list all previous archaeological excavations, surveys and watching briefs, all archaeological sites and monuments, and all Latin texts and translations of the major classical and medieval sources. Sections discussing the development of archaeological investigations, stretching back to monastic accounts of the discovery of Roman material in the tenth century, analyse the processes used to derive the modern understanding of the town's past. Most importantly the book provides new insights into the history of the late Iron Age, Roman and medieval towns, and questions many preconceptions. Each phase of the towns past, from prehistory to the sixteenth century, is discussed in the context of the wider history of the district, and is designed to be accessible to the non-specialist. At the same time, the book provides archaeologists and local historians with an authoritative synthesis of archaeological knowledge of the town at the start of the twenty-first century, and fulfils a primary aim of the series as a whole, which is to help local authorities to manage their archaeological heritage.

Author : Niblett, Rosalind
Publisher : English Heritage
Format : Paperback
Category: Books : Reference and Research
Location: England, East Anglia, Hertfordshire, St Albans

Key Web Sites

The relevant page on ArchSearch contains the following text (my highlights)

Description

The St Albans Urban Archaeological Database is maintained by the District Archaeology Section and covers the 12 square kilometres over the Medieval town and Abbey, and the Roman town, and its immediate surroundings. It contains 1314 records covering the periods from the Palaeolithic to the end of the sixteenth century AD. It includes events and monuments (including 8 scheduled ancient monuments) but excludes isolated finds and listed buildings. The UAD is a computerised database linked to a GIS system and supported by an extensive paper archive. A detailed academic assessment based on the UAD is to be published next year by English Heritage. The UAD is currently closed to the public. 
Status: under development

Location

Hertfordshire; England

Subject type

Rural and urban settlement, Pre-Christian/pagan funerary and cult ritual, Christian monuments, buildings and ritual, Warfare and defence, Historic landscape, Communications, Artefacts, Secular architecture and structures

Period

Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Early Medieval, Late Medieval, Post Medieval, Modern

Data types available

database(s), map(s), photograph(s), catalogue(s), GIS