Visit any settlement in the land and there will be ancient buildings hidden in plain sight. Behind a Victorian façade is a Tudor house. Underneath a Georgian frontage is a mediaeval cottage. What is now a modern farm may once have been a castle. We know relatively little about the ancient buildings that surround us, yet buildings archaeology can offer us so many clues for discovering secret hidden historic houses. This book looks at the ways in which ancient buildings have been studied and conserved, the puzzling ways that some buildings became listed whereas others were overlooked, and how we can really understand the age and development of a structure. With over a quarter of a century of field experience, James Wright uses case studies drawn from his career to explain the fascinating, enigmatic, and frequently surprising world of The Buildings Archaeologist.

JAMES WRIGHT is a buildings archaeologist at Triskele Heritage who specialises in mediaeval and early modern architecture. He holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Nottingham, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and an affiliate of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He has led buildings archaeology surveys at major properties including the Tower of London, St Mary’s Warwick, Palace of Westminster, Tattershall Castle, Southwark Cathedral and Knole. He won Best Archaeological Project at the British Archaeology Awards for his work at the latter. He has also surveyed dozens of domestic vernacular buildings from Wiltshire to Lancashire and from Norfolk to Powys.