Town–Life or Life in Towns?

There is an important question of continuity between Romano-British and English towns. Many of the towns of the Roman period were so sited, that they remained principal centres throughout the Middle Ages and down to modern times. Evidence has yet to be produced that the towns were still properly functioning in the period of peace and British prosperity which came after the Anglo-Saxons had suffered a major defeat at Mount Badon, towards the end of the fifth century. If disease was indeed an important element in the run-down of Roman Britain, and if this disease originally reached the shores by ships trading from the Mediterranean, then it is likely to have broken out first in the towns, the centres to, and from, which traders travelled. Town life had been reduced to life in towns and it cannot be emphasized enough that towns did not continue, and by no stretch of the imagination can they be thought to have done so.