Roman small towns in the East Midlands : a regional study of settlement development and interaction
The urbanisation programme instigated by the Romans as they conquered the western provinces resulted in a network of chartered towns and numerous slighter settlements, popularly titled 'small towns'. Much research has focussed on the wide range of sites encompassed by the term 'small town'; Burnham's work has provided a framework for analysing these sites, based on settlement morphology and functions. Concentrating on the evidence of small towns alone can answer many questions about appearance, development, functions and complexity, but cannot indicate the audiences at which a wide range of activities was aimed. This thesis concentrates on the small towns of the East Midlands, using existing analytical frameworks to establish a hierarchy, and testing this by exploring the nature and strength of relations with neighbouring settlements. Small towns are placed in their landscape, and evaluated as administrative, regional, local market and service centres. Investigation is carried out in three stages: (i) detailed comparative analysis of the small towns alone; (ii) comparing small town-country relations, selecting a sample area of fixed size around each small town; (iii) assessment of the region as a whole, placing
Condron, Frances Mary
Roman small towns in the East Midlands : a regional study of settlement development and interaction. The urbanisation programme instigated by the Romans as they conquered the western provinces resulted in a network of chartered towns and numerous slighter settlements, popularly titled 'small towns'. Much research has focussed on the wide range of sites encompassed by the term 'small town'; Burnham's work has provided a framework for analysing these sites, based on settlement morphology and functions. Concentrating on the evidence of small towns alone can answer many questions about appearance, development, functions and complexity, but cannot indicate the audiences at which a wide range of activities was aimed. This thesis concentrates on the small towns of the East Midlands, using existing analytical frameworks to establish a hierarchy, and testing this by exploring the nature and strength of relations with neighbouring settlements. Small towns are placed in their landscape, and evaluated as administrative, regional, local market and service centres. Investigation is carried out in three stages: (i) detailed comparative analysis of the small towns alone; (ii) comparing small town-country relations, selecting a sample area of fixed size around each small town; (iii) assessment of the region as a whole, placing
roman small_town east_midlands regional_study settlement development interaction urbanisation programme instigate romans western_province result network town numerous settlement popularly title small_town much focus wide_range site encompass term small_town work provide_framework analyse site base settlement_morphology function concentrating evidence small_town alone answer many question appearance development function complexity indicate audience wide_range activity aim concentrate small_town east_midlands use exist analytical_framework establish hierarchy test explore_nature strength relation neighbour settlement small_town place_landscape evaluate administrative regional_local market service centre investigation_carry three_stage detail comparative_analysis small_town alone compare small_town country relation select sample area fix size around small_town iii assessment region whole place