Historic towns project launches
A new study is charting the development of a number of Warwickshire’s historic towns from the Roman period until the present day.
The Warwickshire Historic Towns project is a three year study being carried out by Warwickshire Museum’s Historic Environment Record (HER) in partnership with English Heritage.
Each historic town will be assessed using a variety of documentary, cartographic and archaeological evidence and aims to examine how Warwickshire’s historic towns have changed over time and why they look the way they do.
The information from this study will be integrated into the Warwickshire Historic Environment Record and will be made available to a variety of people; from members of the public and researchers interested in the history of their local town to commercial organisations and local authorities who can use the information to help inform planning and management decisions.
Ben Morton, a Landscape Archaeologist with Warwickshire County Council at the Historic Environment Record, said: “The exciting thing about this project is that most of us live, work or regularly visit towns and the information from this project will allow us to understand the historical development of these places and how the past has shaped their present character.
“The results of the Historic Towns Project will enable people to begin to research and understand their local historic town from scratch. No expertise or previous experience is required and with over 20 historic towns forming part of the project there is sure to be plenty of history in everybody’s locality.”
Periodic updates to the project, with the results of each town’s assessment, will be made available at: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/eus.