Becoming Ipswich: Urban emergence in Britain’s oldest town with Dr Brandon Fathy. 

It’s not too late to register for this FREE event open to University of Leicester Alumni. Registration closes at 4.55pm (UK time) on Thursday 7 August. Joining instructions will be sent to those already registered onto the event in the coming days.

In this talk, Dr Brandon Fathy will explore how towns started to form in Britain between 600-900 AD, using the town of Ipswich as a key example. While many people think towns were created mainly by kings or powerful leaders, this talk looks beyond that idea.

Instead of seeing town-building as a one-time decision by rulers, Dr. Fathy will demonstrate that towns like Ipswich grew slowly over time through the actions of many different people.

His research will help us understand that early towns weren’t just built from the top down, but were shaped by a mix of human effort, daily life, and the land itself. This talk will give us a fuller picture of how communities and towns evolved in early medieval England.

During this event, you will have the opportunity to ask Dr Fathy any questions as part of our live Q&A towards the end of the event.

Dr Brandon Fathy is a lecturer in later Medieval Archaeology at the University of Reading. He completed his PhD in Archaeology at the University of Leicester in 2022. His research is motivated by the question, “what are the origins of towns and cities”. Brandon is also interested in post humanist archaeology, thinking about how the vibrant and active capacities of matter and materials impact on processes like urban emergence. His doctoral research explored the origins of early medieval Ipswich using spatial and statistical analysis among other tools. He has also published on horse tack and the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He has previously been awarded funding from the Medieval Academy of America (Schallek Award) and the Economic History Society.

If you have any questions about this event or experience any issues, please email alumni.events@le.ac.uk