Welsh Journals

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Perhaps Bruce's willingness in the 1320s to pay a price for peace-which is here attributed to his 'generosity' (p. 353) — may suggest that his situation seemed less secure to him than it has done to historians. They, after all, can- not forget what the ageing king could not know: that the English political mess, which had made his career possible, would postpone the reckoning until he was in his grave. But had Professor Barrow been tempted to cast a colder eye on King Robert and his times, we should have a less distinctive and powerful book. ROBIN FRAME Durham THE PLANS AND TOPOGRAPHY OF MEDIEVAL TOWNS IN ENGLAND AND WALES. Edited by M. W. Barley. The Council for British Archaeology, Research Report No. 14, 1976. Pp. 92, figs. 45. £ 4.50. This series of essays is testimony to the quickening interest in the investigation of medieval towns in Britain during the last decade or so. It is a direct outcome of a seminar organised in 1974 by the Urban Research Committee of the Council for British Archaeology and devoted to the origin and development of the physical shape of medieval towns in England and Wales. The seven succinct essays are written by some of the most active and respected historians of the medieval town, and the discussions to which their original papers gave rise are fully reported in a coherent and useful way which points unmistakeably towards the 'Further Research Projects' identified at the conclusion of the book. The structure of the book, its ample maps and plans, and the clarity of all the essays make it a valuable statement of the current position on a number of significant historical and archaeological problems and on several individual sites whose secrets have not been fully communicated to a wide audience. D. M. Palliser's review of the evidence-documentary, structural and archaeological-for medieval urban history amounts to a robust plea for more extensive publication of archaeological and architectural remains. If his words are timely in an English context, they amount to a veritable cri de coeur in Wales where, despite the admirable work undertaken at certain of the more majestic sites (such as Caernarvon, Conway and Tenby) the situation is even bleaker. It is half a century since the indefatigable William Rees pointed the way with his bibliography of urban history, but hardly any authoritative histories of medieval Welsh towns have resulted, and today there are few towns (Monmouth is an exception) with a compre- hensive programme of practical investigation. Historians, archaeologists and others could well pursue some of the ideas presented in this book and apply them in a Welsh context, for although Dr. Palliser and other contrib- utors have little to say specifically about Welsh towns, many of their conclusions are applicable in Wales; other essays directly tackle some of the Welsh evidence. Recently, the four Archaeological Trusts set up in Wales have begun their 'rescue' excavations at 'threatened' sites (at, for instance, Swansea, Carmarthen, Caernarvon and near Cardigan). The essays discuss some of the fundamental themes that demand attention if the topographical development of medieval towns is to be