The key question here is was there continuous use of borough sites from the Roman occupation of Europe through to the medieval period. Although many medieval cities developed upon site that had been previously been used by the Romans, the idea that the occupation of a town site is not a feasible one.
Important functions differentiate the large Roman cities from the medieval ones.
Roman cities were political or military centres, more consumers than producers of goods and services. A contrast to the medieval city which was a central market place for the area that surrounded it and a place in which manufactured good were produced. For continuity to be proved, town life must be shown to have survived the 6th century, and only at York, Canterbury and London can this be suggested. Because of archaeological evidence the question of continuity is limited to a number of sites, at least 30 sites can claim to be towns by the 10th century by virtue of their mint, market or fortification. There are problems with this that some sites, for example Cirencester, defences were only sparsely used.