3. The Evolution of Post-medieval Village Territories

The reconstruction of the medieval landscape can be tackled from two directions: it might be approached so-to-speak from below, using archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence to build up a picture of the pre-medieval framework from which it emerged; or from above, through examination of the later landscape within which earlier structural elements inherited from the medieval period have survived. Of these, the second offers the most obvious route, for it is here that archaeological, historical and cartographic evidence can be brought to bear. And this is also perhaps the most logical, since it permits the identification and removal of the later accretions and alterations which obscure efforts to view the past. Furthermore, it is not just changes to the physical environment of the village territory which can be traced more easily in this well-documented context, but also how these adaptations were effected. Of course, it should not be expected that the evolution of the post-medieval landscape will provide an exact parallel for what had gone before, but understanding how a particular piece of land could develop within its natural constraints, should help explore the more partially visible medieval world for the existence of analogous or divergent events and processes.

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