Godmanchester is not a site blessed with opportunities for aerial reconnaissance or geophysical survey. Rather its story has had to be pieced together from a series of excavations, most notably those undertaken by Michael Green over an extended period between 1949 and 1986. For the first time the results of all G.’s work are here compiled into one easily accessible volume, together with samples of the extensive archive upon which it is based. The text is largely that written by G. himself, amplified by additional contributions from individual specialists. The core narrative is essentially drawn from G.’s two earlier syntheses — one in Rodwell and Rowley (Small Towns of Roman Britain (1975)), the other in Todd (Studies in the Romano-British Villa (1978)) — together with several other articles which provided a more comprehensive treatment of specific aspects. Overall compilation and editing fell to Tim Malim, who was also responsible for tying down the location of the individual excavations on contemporary OS mapping. The volume comprises three parts: (1) Excavations; (2) Specialist Studies; (3) Appendices.

In Part One, an introductory chapter seeks to document and locate the individual sites precisely against modern OS maps, each one with relevant period/phase summaries. Ch. 2 then provides a brief chronological and thematic summary of the town. The earliest significant activity is represented by two successive forts, one Claudian, the other most probably post-Boudiccan. Subsequent civilian settlement saw a Flavian reorganisation, including the development of a system of ditched strips, possibly representing infield/outfield agriculture, and various domestic structures set alongside the road frontages, most associated with agricultural functions. The early second century saw the establishment of a courtyard building, an associated bath-house and the first of three successive temples, while a possible civilian basilica was added in the early third century at the central crossroads. This period also saw increasing numbers of strip-buildings associated with economic activities, many flanking an open area identified as a market-place. While the postulated second-century defensive circuit remains problematical, stone defences were certainly begun in the later part of the third century, though construction work was interrupted, perhaps contemporary with a major fire which devastated the courtyard building and associated structures. A later phase of fourth-century defences has been identified on the north-west side of the town. The town's later history is poorly known, though there is evidence for contraction within the defences.

Subsequent chapters elaborate on specific aspects of this sequence: forts, road network and town development (ch. 3); public buildings and cemeteries (ch. 4); the economic base of the town, which included a range of agricultural, industrial and market functions (ch. 5; cf. table 5.1); the economic base of the rural hinterland, with particular reference to the villa complex at Rectory Farm (ch. 6); the domestic buildings, over 60 examples of which have been excavated (cf. table 7.1); and continuity into the Anglo-Saxon period (ch. 7).

Part Two presents the specialist reports. These cover the usual suspects — samian and coarse pottery catalogues, mortaria and lamps, faunal remains, coins, special assemblages and slag — but particular interest attaches to the evidence for economic activity both within and beyond the town, the cremation casket of wood and bronze, and the jewellery hoard from a pit outside the mansio.

Part Three presents a series of appendices. First comes a full listing of site reports arranged chronologically by excavation date, embellished with numerous contemporary plans as drawn by G. himself. This is followed by a compilation of all his various reports and articles which have been previously published elsewhere, thus making them all easily available in one place. A final appendix presents a catalogue and illustrations of the small finds, some clearly with hand-written annotations.

At the end there is a short bibliography, but with one exception (dated 2002) everything predates 2000. To this reviewer, at least, the absence of any reference to The ‘Small Towns’ of Roman Britain (Burnham and Wacher, 1990) comes as a mild surprise. One might be more surprised, however, that there has been little or no attempt to contextualise G.’s results and interpretations within either the wider literature of urban research or contemporary research agendas and themes, which have inevitably moved on from the debates of the 1980s and 1990s. Nor is there any attempt to include recent excavations. This would be to criticise the volume for something it was never meant to be, however. All too often the type of small-scale work represented here, undertaken over many years, never sees the full light of day beyond short summaries at best. In this volume we are presented with a lifetime's work in all its detail, warts and all, encapsulating a summary both of the town's development and of the life of its inhabitants. As such it makes a significant contribution to the history and archaeology of Godmanchester and its surroundings. For this we should congratulate both the author and the compiler for bringing the whole to such a fitting conclusion; it will be up to others to study, reassess and distill the details it contains.