A Persistence of Place : A Study of Continuity and Regionality in the Roman and Early Medieval Rural Settlement Patterns of Norfolk, Kent and Somerset

This is a publication of my doctoral thesis with the University of Exeter. My research aim has been to assess patterns of settlement continuity and discontinuity between the late Roman and early medieval periods over three regional case study areas: Norfolk, Kent and Somerset. Quantitative and spatial data has been collected and stored within a GIS database and queried to produce a series of spatial relationships. Using landscape archaeology principles the results have been systematically assessed across a range of distinctive character regions, or pays. The discussion of results uses distribution maps, tables and charts to help demonstrate the research outcomes and amplify regional trends in Roman and early medieval settlement relationships, relative to their physical landscape context.