Life in a busy but long-deserted village in south Warwickshire in the middle ages is subject of Banbury talk

Professor Chris Dyer will be speaking on the importance of Burton Dassett Southend settlement, combining history and archaeology. The Banbury Historical Society lecture takes place on Thursday, March 14.

Mr Dyer writes that it was once said that archaeology is an expensive way of telling us what we know already. The excavations at Burton Dassett disprove this gibe, he says.

Many aspects of the past are only partly documented by written sources and archaeological evidence extends our understanding.

We learn from the work at Burton Dassett about town and country, houses, diet, farming, piety, literacy and much else. Southend was a lively commercial centre in the middle ages which was then more or less deserted. Excavations, in advance of the destruction caused by the building of the M40 along the valley, have revealed much about what took place there.

Prof Dyer has taught at the Universities of Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leicester. He is now the emeritus Professor of History at the Centre for Regional and Local History in Leicester. His research covers the fields of social and economic history, landscape history and archaeology. He is active in societies and research groups. He has an impressive list of publications, the most recent of which is Peasants Making History c1200-1540.

Lectures take place in the Education Studio of Banbury Museum. People may watch at home by emailing [email protected]. Non-members are welcome: they may receive one lecture free but will then be invited to pay or join the society.