Most town centre buildings have been investment properties since they were originally built, and some have remarkably long histories that go back five centuries or more. Brian Giggins has been involved with historic buildings for much of his career as a general practice surveyor, building historian and planning archaeologist, as well as studying them as his retirement hobby. His online talk looked at examples from Northamptonshire towns in which evidence of early stone, brick, timber and mud construction have been found, often behind comparatively modern facades.