Medieval London Houses John Schofield

A comprehensive study of domestic buildings in London from about 1200 to the Great Fire in 1666. John Schofield describes houses and such related buildings as almshouses, taverns, inns, shops and livery company halls, drawing on evidence from surviving buildings, archaeological excavations, documents, panoramas, drawn surveys and plans, contemporary descriptions, and later engravings and photographs. Schofield presents an overview of the topography of the medieval city, reconstructing its streets, defences, many religious houses and fine civic buildings. He then provides details about the mediaeval and Tudor London house: its plan, individual rooms and spaces and their functions, the roofs, floors and windows, the materials of construction and decoration, and the internal fittings and furniture. Throughout the text he discusses what this evidence tells us about the special restrictions or pleasures of living in the capital; how certain innovations of plan and construction first occurred in London before spreading to other towns; and how notions of privacy developed. The text is illustrated and accompanied by a selective gazetteer of 201 sites in the City of London and its immediate environs.

John Schofield is academic editor at the Museum of London Archaeology Service

"Dr Schofield's study is scholarly and thorough... it undoubtedly constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of London before the Great Fire." John Goodall, Country Life "Schofield uses a full range of sources to reconstruct London's houses and layout from 1200-1600 A.D., and provides a gazetteer of some 201 sites in and around the City. Another beautifully produced and splendidly illustrated volume from Yale University Press." Antiquity