Among the most evocative items to be discovered by archaeologists are the scraps of silk and wool and other fabrics that signal so eloquently their owner's status and concerns. Such clothing and textile finds have figured prominently in excavations of medieval sites in London in the past two decades; they have included knitting, tapestries, silk hair-nets and elaborately patterned oriental, Islamic and Italian fabrics, which reveal for the first time the wide range of cloths available to medieval Londoners; there are beautifully made buttons, and buttonholes and edgings which display superb...

Brooches, rings, buckles, pendants, buttons, purses and other accessories were part of everyday dress in the middle ages. Over two thousand such items dating from the period 1150-1450 are described and discussed here, all found in recent archaeological excavations in London - then as now one of western Europe's most cosmopolitan cities, its social and economic activity compounded by the waterside bustle of the Thames. These finds constitute the most extensive and varied group of such accessories yet recovered in Britain, and their close dating and the scientific analysis carried out on them...