4.

5 What was
life like in a
medieval
town?
4.5 What was life like in a medieval Town?

LO: Explain what life was like in a medieval town, Identify how
buying and selling was organized, Examine why towns grew.
 People who didn’t live in villages lived in towns
 When William the conqueror, conquered England in 1066 there
was around fifteen towns with more than 1000 people and only
around eight with more than 3000 people.
 London was the largest with around 10,000 people.
 After 1066 towns began to grow
 This was because they were near intersections of roads, bridges,
castles, or monasteries
 Local lords still owned these places
 But towns allowed people to make money
 Money made towns grow
 As a town grew larger townspeople made more money
 Sometimes they would come together and offer money to the local
lord or king a lot of money buy their land and their freedom
 A towns freedom written down on a
special piece of paper called a “Charter”.
 Charters allowed towns to run markets
without having to pay the lord or king
taxes.
 Some Kings would sell charters to make
money
 A town with a charter allowed
townspeople to run the town themselves
and elect a mayor and a council.
 A council would collect taxes and spend
this money of improving the town.
Identify and label the following buildings:
 Number 3
 Number 5
 Number 6
 Number 7
 Number 10
 Number 11
 Number 15
 Number 16
 Number 18
Please complete the Over to You and Causation questions on p.87
 4.5 What was
life like in a
medieval
town?
4.5 What was life like in a medieval Town?

LO: Explain what life was like in a medieval town, Identify how
buying and selling was organized, Examine why towns grew.
 Most towns held Market once or twice a week.
 Local villagers would come to town and sell their excess milk, meat, and
vegetables.
 Merchants would set up small stalls and sell clothes, shoes, spices,
pottery, and knives.
 If the town was large, some traders would build small shops to sell their
goods.
 Often with a small workshop next door.
 Some towns had specialist shops such as a butchers, bakery, or a
shoemaker
 The advantage to shops verses stalls is shops didn’t have to pack away
at the end of the day and goods could be bought any day instead of just
market days.
 Britain's most important export at
the time was wool.
 An export is a something that is
sent to another country for sale.
Please complete the Over to You questions on p.89