Medieval Weymouth - Growth and Decline, by James Crump

Medieval Weymouth - Growth and Decline, by James Crump
Book published by YouCaxton in 2015, 103 pages. Paperback (N7300)

Brand New Book

From the rear side cover: Weymouth is usually thought of as a ‘Georgian’ town, but this book shows how much of the physical appearance of the town was determined many years before the arrival of George III himself. It examines the parallel histories of the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from the eleventh century to the end of the sixteenth, charting their rise and subsequent decline. It explains how their early growth was based on the great medieval trades of wool and wine and how growth was influenced by their connections with France which developed particularly in the years of the Angevin Empire. Their later decline was caused by the disruption of these trades and by the ravages of war in the Channel, part of the great conflict with France known as the ‘Hundred Years’ War’. In the midst of this the population was overwhelmed by the catastrophe of the Black Death. Chapters include:

Origins
The Charters
Weymouth and Melcombe. Planned Medieval Towns
The Growth of the Towns in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
War, disease and decline
Religion
Town life in the fourteenth century
The End of the Middle Ages