Burhs, burghal territories and hundreds in the English central Midlands in the early tenth century (Part 3) — the case of Essex
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19217565 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeremy Haslam (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 5-34 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Landscape History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0143-3768 • E-ISSN: 2160-2506 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01433768.2026.2663216 |
| OpenAlex | W7162023851 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
This paper examines the evidence for the organisation of the landscape of burhs and their territories in Essex in the early tenth century, using the same techniques of landscape analysis as were used in the parts 1 and 2. The evidence for the existence of two early tenth-century urban burhs at Waltham Abbey and at Chelmsford are examined, both of which were additional to those documented in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. These identifications contradict the currently accepted narratives of the origin and early development of both places — in the case of Waltham, that its urban form developed in relation to the abbey in the early post- Conquest period, and in the case of Chelmsford, that it was a small planted town created by the bishop of London in the early twelfth century. Their place as components of the system of burhs and interlocking burghal territories which enabled King Edward the Elder’s ‘conquest’ and control of the south-eastern Danelaw, including East Anglia, is examined in detail. This system was later superceded in probably the mid-tenth century by the imposition of a new cadastre comprising smaller hundreds within the newly defined shire of Essex
Anglo saxon · Documentary evidence · Landscape history · Period (music) · Medieval Architecture and Archaeology · Medieval Iberian Studies · Medieval Literature and History
The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century
Building Anglo-Saxon England
Beyond the Burghal Hidage
Hundreds and Leets
The Anglo-Saxon urban landscape in East Anglia
The Anglo-Saxon Burh at Wigingamere
The articulation of burgages and streets in early medieval towns, part 1
Burhs, burghal territories and hundreds in the English central Midlands in the early tenth century. Part 1
Burhs, burghal territories and hundreds in the English central Midlands in the early tenth century (Part 2)
Continuity and fission in the Anglo-Saxon landscape
Mapping the medieval city
Excavations at Waltham Abbey, Essex, 1985–1991
The Burghal Hidage and the West Saxon burhs
Urban landscapes and the cultural politics of territorial control in Anglo‐Norman England
The Excavation of an 11th-century Viking Hall and 14th-century Rooms at Waltham Abbey, Essex, 1969–71
Governance at the Anglo-Scandinavian Interface
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |