Excavations in Three Burgage Plots in the Medieval Town of Newport, Dyfed, 1991

Abstract

THREE BURGAGE PLOTS within a deserted area of the medieval new town of Newport were excavated. Buildings were established on the burgage plots following the town's foundation in the late 12th century, but these were short-lived and the plots were soon given over to agriculture. Evidence for buildings was slight. It is argued that the excavated dwellings were earth-built and thatched and possibly conformed to a standard plan. Boundaries between individual burgage plots and between blocks of plots were investigated, thus examining the means by which the town was laid out.