London’s religious houses: a review of ongoing research

London’s medieval religious houses are fast becoming some of the best-documented in the UK and an exceptionally well-researched group in the context of western European cities, thanks in large part to the Greater London publication programme commissioned by English Heritage (EH). This programme has involved the assessment, analysis and publication of numerous archaeological excavations undertaken mainly in the 1970s and 1980s on the sites of five of London’s monasteries (Hinton and Thomas 1997). Developer funding and further EH support raised the number of houses to nine, and more recent developer-funded fieldwork will again increase the number. The resulting series of monographs on this sample of London’s monastic houses covers a number of orders (not including mendicants), both urban/suburban (intra-mural and extra-mural) and semi-rural or rural houses, and will include houses for women as well as for men. This review identifies particular aspects where the publication programme has produced high-quality information and has highlighted the potential for further research, some of which is already in progress.