And as promised, history/working notes...
First Generation:
Primary focus of the area, farming. Central location with grain storage and mills as primary business. Transportation incoming from local farms, mostly outgoing on the river some on the kingdom road. Slaughterhouse/butchery as secondary, also providing leather for armour. There was a thriving woodcutting business during the beginning stages of development, but that is starting to taper off now that farmland has been cleared, and woodcutters are now having to travel too far for new wood since it’s not that heavily forested here in the first place – and what is left is being viciously defended by bandits who use the trees for cover and living (The local constabulary has requested military forces to clear the bandits, but so far has not received any help). The land is reasonably fertile, and started off with the first few farmers living near each other pooling their resources to create a central collection point for their harvests on the kingdom road. The grain is collected at the stockpile on the west bank, and shipped downstream on barges.
Generation Two:
More farmers joined in, one ended up taking over the stockpile as fulltime responsibility, and became the first general store merchant. A few others became wealthy and began buying out neighbours and acting as landlords, with the largest landowner being considered a mayor/magistrate. Reasonably central close location so livestock pens and holding facilities were added for herds being moved to other locations, eventually developed their own slaughterhouse and meat processing facilities and became a destination rather than a waystation. A military outpost (10-15 men) has been established as a presence to remind the locals that they are still part of the kingdom. They help defend against bandit raids, but they are not strong enough to actively hunt them. The locals hope their reports will influence the nobles to send a larger force.
Generation Three:
Livestock was collected on both sides of the river with the south side being a holding pen for the ferry, north side being the primary. This has now been switched for defensive purposes as the west bank was more strategic, the slaughterhouse pens also being moved from the road so as not to be in the middle of the commercial district, temporary holding pens for cattle being moved to other destinations are still in the old western paddock.. Livestock is transported north along the road. The region is slowly being turned over to more pastures and less grains as the price of meat goes up in other areas of the kingdom.
Generation Four:
Now having become a full town, and beginning to prosper, it caught the attention of the nobles at court who sent a knight to ensure the lands were kept secure. He has built a manor house and has been given royal funds and stonemasons to replace the wooden palisades with stone walls to repel bandit raids which are on the rise. The frequency of the raids is starting to annoy the knight, who has begun training a force to actively hunt the bandits down. The bulk of military armaments are shipped in from elsewhere, though local craftsmen are producing good quality bows and arrows for export as well as local use. The local forge is more for repair than creation, with most tools imported.
Being rather devout, the knight offered incentives for his church to create a site, and used his personal fortune to expand the church to contain a small monastery.. This is now bringing more notoriety to the town as one of the monks turns out to have considerable artistic talent and is creating illuminated manuscripts of unusually high quality. This has begun pilgrimages to this area, and locals are beginning to take advantage of the pilgrimage trade. These manuscripts have caught the attention of the royal court as well, and another serious bandit incursion will likely see the pious king sending a regiment of troops to secure the area for once and for all.
1st generation:
Wheat Farms
Livestock farms
Sawmills
Stockpile (on road)
Ferry
1 wharf/dock each side
2nd generation:
livestock pens
small manor houses
general store
Hunters
3rd generation
slaughterhouse
meat processing
tanner
Mills
bakery
storage buildings
inn
Constabulary
Town hall/courthouse
Another general store
Bridge
More docks
palisade (with gates on road)
4th generation (present)
large manor/keep
stone walls start replacing palisades
monastery
chandler
more inns
specialized stores
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