Godmanchester town defences (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Godmanchester.
In the historic county of Huntingdonshire.
Modern Authority of Cambridgeshire.
1974 county of Cambridgeshire.
Medieval County of Huntingdonshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL248703
Latitude 52.31882° Longitude -0.16958°

Godmanchester town defences has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Walled Roman Town received earthwork extension to south-west in C9-C11. In Bond's 'of no post-Conquest importance' list.

At Godmanchester the town ditch could have been part of the defence system on the Ouse to create double burghs. Michael Green has traced the town ditch in West Street, East Chadleigh Lane and Earning Street where it followed the Roman defence ditch (Green 1961). Portions of the walls were maintained at least until the eleventh century appear to date to the eleventh- twelfth century, based on the pottery from the section following Earning Street (Green, Site 11, Appendix 2). The area enclosed by the Saxo-Norman town ditch would fit with the later street pattern described in the Hundred Rolls of 1279. (Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Godmanchester)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00857 (Roman walls only).

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (slight)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 59
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 esp plan on p. 105 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Godmanchester. Draft Report 03/04/2003. online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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