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Michael Potterton on the 'Anglo-Norman town'

To complement the Irish Historic Towns Atlas Online series we are producing short essays by experts on particular town types.

The fifth in the series is on the Anglo-Norman towns by Michael Potterton IHTA editor and lecturer in Maynooth University. In this essay, Potterton gives examples of the unprecedented urban growth in Ireland from the thirteenth century.  

Scroll through the essay below or enlarge it to open in a new window.

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Further reading

To view and download the IHTA Online editions of towns of Athlone, Carlingford, Carrickfergus, Fethard, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Sligo, Trim or Youghal click here. 

To purchase copies of IHTA publications please click here. 

Expert essays

Anngret Simms on the 'Monastic town' click here. 

Howard Clarke on the 'Viking town' click here. 

Raymond Gillespie on the 'Early Modern, Gaelic and Plantation' town click here. 

Colm Lennon on the 'town in the eighteenth century' click here.

Jacinta Prunty on the 'town in the nineteenth century' click here. 

Return to IHTA homepage.

Cover image: 'Kragfargus towne', c. 1560. BL, Cotton MS Augustus I, ii, 42. It appears as Map 4 in IHTA no. 2 Carrickferfgus by Philip Robinson (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1986). 

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