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Welcome to the Medieval Settlement Research Group website.

To see full page, or to return to home page at any time, please click on the MSRG logo.

You may wish to join the MSRG e-list, an electronic discussion group dedicated to those interested in medieval settlement. To join, follow this link.

So why do we exist?

The Medieval Settlement Research Group aims to:

• increase public awareness of the subject by spreading information about medieval settlement as widely as possible
  
• hold regular meetings, seminars and conferences around the United Kingdom
  
• offer advice and information to individuals and organisations conducting research into settlement history
  
• influence national policy on the survey, conservation and excavation of medieval settlement sites
  
• encourage the preservation of settlement sites wherever possible
  
• publish an annual report
  
• sponsor original research

Medieval farmstead and field system, High Burntoft, Hartlepool (Tees Archaeology)  

The Medieval Settlement Research Group was established in November 1986 from an amalgamation of the Medieval Village Research Group (founded 1952) and the Moated Sites Research Group (founded 1971).  Archaeologists, geographers, historians and others belong to the Group, aiming to use their disciplines co-operatively in order to advance knowledge of settlements of all kinds.  The Group’s interest is concentrated on the period between the 5th and 16th centuries, but does not exclude earlier and later periods, study of which is often essential for understanding developments in the middle ages.

Over the last forty years members of the Group have contributed significantly to the transformation of views on the history of settlement.  Hundreds of "lost" or deserted villages have been identified, shrunken villages and deserted hamlets or farmsteads have been added to the lists of abandoned sites, and moated sites are recognised as a distinctive type of habitation, whether in villages or dispersed as isolated farmsteads.  The organisation of the long-term research project at Wharram Percy in North Yorkshire has been a key achievement whilst archive records, for which there is a computerised index, have been deposited in the National Monuments Record.  The Group has for many years also sought to influence the policies of the national heritage bodies and others and has issued a number of policy statements on various topics. The Group’s latest, all embracing, statement can be viewed here.

Excavation reveals the constantly changing shape and size of settlements, and enables us to study houses and the life that went on within them.  Research into the origin of settlements has shown that most moated sites developed in the 12th and 13th centuries whilst the 9th and 10th centuries are revealed as critical for the establishment of many nucleated settlements in the Midlands, often planned along with their field systems. In many other areas dispersed settlements continued to predominate, further increasing during the 12th and 13th centuries as former woodlands and marginal lands were brought into use.  There are still many gaps in our knowledge, and problems remain which can only be solved by further research, hence the Group’s support for a new project in the Whittlewood area of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire to succeed "landscape" projects such as those at Wharram Percy, Raunds and Shapwick.

Through the Medieval Settlement Research Group reports of new discoveries are communicated, new ideas are aired and new research themes discussed.  This is achieved through various meetings and conferences but also through the Annual Report which contains both articles and details of fieldwork and excavations and is free to all members.  Research Grants are also available to members of the Group.

Current Committee:

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