By the end of the Middle Ages Norwich had emerged as England’s largest provincial town — a primacy which it was to continue to enjoy until almost 1800. This volume uses the evidence of a comprehensive campaign of excavations, building survey and documentary research, to look at the theme of land use through different sectors of the city, and how this changed during the medieval and early post-medieval periods. The main areas of the city are covered by extensively illustrated chapters which examine both the historical and archaeological evidence for their origins and growth.

Many of the sites produced evidence for crafts and industries, including bell-casting, quarrying, tanning or horn-working, and a medieval dyeworks; other excavations revealed charnel pits, a probable rectory, and more evidence for ‘The Strangers’ — the later 16th-century Low Countries immigrants who played such a key role in the revival of the city’s fortunes. These excavations have also significantly increased the number of clay-walled buildings known from the city.

Set up in 1971, the Norwich Survey adopted a multi-disciplinary approach towards examination and recording of the city’s archaeology. This is the last of five major volumes to emerge from the fifteen years of its investigations and research programmes.