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About the Group
MSRG is a multi-disciplinary group that facilitates collaboration between archaeologists, historians, geographers and other interested parties dedicated to developing understanding of settlement between the fifth and sixteenth centuries AD.
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The Medieval Settlement Research Group (MSRG) was founded in November 1986 from an amalgamation of two well-established organizations, the Moated Sites Research Group and the Medieval Village Research Group. Archaeologists, geographers and historians belonging to the Group aim to use their disciplines co-operatively in order to advance knowledge of medieval settlements and landscapes of all kinds. Although the Group's interest is concentrated on British and Irish medieval landscapes between the fifth and sixteenth centuries AD, it actively encourages wider chronological and pan-European perspectives.
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Over the past fifty years our views on the history of settlement have been radically transformed. Aerial photography and field survey have mapped hundreds of deserted and shrunken settlements of varying scales, from villages through to hamlets, moated sites and seasonally occupied communities engaged in fishing and animal husbandry. Excavation has revealed the constantly changing shape and size of settlements and enabled us to study houses and the life that went on inside them.
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| We now have a more refined understanding of the origins of regional differences in settlement form and patterns of land-use that continue to define the present-day countryside. Alongside these persistent themes, current research agendas increasingly seek to move beyond categorizing medieval settlements to address the social and ideological factors which shaped medieval perceptions of the landscape. |
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As it looks to the future, the Group actively strives towards a closer integration of field archaeology, local history, standing building recording, place-name study, and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction towards a better understanding of medieval settlements as integrated components of the historic landscape. It is this holistic approach, underpinned by a continually developing battery of methodologies, that will define the Group's research agenda for the coming 50 years and beyond. |
MSRG Principal Aims
- To increase public awareness of the subject by spreading information about medieval settlement as widely as possible
- To publish an annual journal, reporting on the progress of medieval settlement studies
- To sponsor original research
- To hold regular meetings, lectures, seminars and conferences around the country
- To influence national policy on the excavation and recording of threatened sites
- To offer advice and information to individuals and organizations conducting research into settlement
Achievements of the Group
- It has organised the long-term research project at the deserted village of Wharram Percy in Yorkshire and was also recently involved in a comprehensive survey of the history of settlement in Whittlewood on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire
- It has worked closely with English Heritage and Historic Scotland and other national bodies on a variety of projects and policy issues
- It publishes an annual journal, Medieval Settlement Research, which contains articles, details of field-work and excavations, reviews and lists of key publications
Benefits of membership
- Members of the Group receive a free copy of the annual journal, are invited to attend the MSRG Spring Conference and Winter Seminar, plus AGM
- Students can join at half price
- Members may apply for research grants
- Student members may also apply for a Beresford Bursary to help fund conference attendance
- The Group welcomes new members, amateur and professional, students (full- and part-time), who share its aims and interests.
To join the Group, please follow this link.
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