West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village is an archaeological site and an open-air museum located near to West Stow in Suffolk, eastern England. Evidence for intermittent human habitation at the site stretches from the Mesolithic through the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British period, but it is best known for the small village that existed on the site between the mid-5th century and the early 7th century CE, during the early Anglo-Saxon period. During this time, around 70 sunken-featured buildings were constructed on the site, along with 8 halls and a number of other features. Subsequently, abandoned, the area became farmland in the late medieval period.
Antiquarian interest in the site began in 1849, when a nearby Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered. Subsequent excavations of Romano-British pottery kilns took place in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, before the Anglo-Saxon settlement was revealed. The site was excavated between 1956 and 1972 by an archaeological team from the Ministry of Public Building and Works (MOPBW), led first by Vera Evison and then by Stanley West. Following the culmination of excavation, it was decided to reconstruct the village on the site, an experimental archaeological project which has been ongoing since 1974. In 1999, the site was opened to the public with a new visitor's centre, museum and cafe.
Location
West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village is located on the north bank of the River Lark, adjacent to the village of West Stow in the western part of Suffolk. Situated on a small hill in height, it would have been noticeably prominent in the surrounding landscape; this hill formed a "core" for a sand dune that developed around from wind-carried sand during the early 14th century and which sharply drops on the leeward side while gradually sloping on the windward side. The steep southern slope is accentuated by a ditch at its base, which marks the edge of the river's flood plain.
The surrounding landscape as it appears today is radically different from the landscape that would have surrounded the area in the Iron Age and early medieval periods.West 1985. p. 10. The land to the north and east of the West Stow Anglo-Saxon village has been heavily modified during the construction of the Bury sewage farms, with the north-east corner of the site having been partly destroyed by a gravel pit in the 1950s. By the mid-1980s, the rubbish dumps that surrounded the site had been converted into a Country Park, with the landscape being regenerated with sedge, grass, birch and oak. The site of the settlement is also bisected by a row of pine trees that had been planted in the 19th century.
The solid geology of the Lark Valley is chalk, with patches of boulder clay that forms a high plateau capped with sands and gravels in West Stow and Icklingham.West 1985. p. 3. The site is seven miles west from the town of Bury St. Edmunds.West 2001. p. i.
Prehistoric settlement The site at West Stow has shown evidence of human habitation throughout British prehistory. Indeed, the wider Lark Valley contains the greatest known concentration of prehistoric settlements in the region of East Anglia.
Mesolithic Excavation at West Stow has discovered evidence for hunter-gatherers living in the area during the Mesolithic, or "Middle Stone Age" period. Temporarily camping on the knoll, they left behind them five or six dense concentrations of Sauveterrian-style waste lithic flakes, blades, cores and other stone implements. Similar scatters of Mesolithic worked flints have been found across the valley area.West 1985. pp. 3–4.
Neolithic and Bronze Ages Grooved ware and petit tranchet-style arrowheads dating from the Neolithic Age have been found in a field adjacent to the West Stow site.West 1985. p. 4.
Anglo-Saxon settlement During the early Anglo-Saxon period, West Stow was the site of a small village made up of timber buildings. Archaeological excavation of the site unearthed evidence for a variety of different constructions and areas at West Stow: 69 sunken-featured buildings (SFBs), alongside 7 post-hole buildings interpreted as halls, traces of several lesser structures, a reserve area for clay, 2 large hollows or animal pens, pits, various unassociated post holes and several 7th century boundary ditches.West 2001. p. 7. The Anglo-Saxon village showed no signs of the development of property boundaries until the last phase of occupation. There was no evidence that the settlement was defended by fortifications.
Sunken-featured buildings
The majority of structures built at West Stow belonged to a category of what the excavators called "sunken-featured buildings" (SFBs), a term first coined by Professor Philip Rahtz. In previous decades, buildings in this style had been known as "pit houses", "sunken houses" or "grubenhauser" (), but site director Stanley West noted that Rahtz's terminology had been adopted because it was "less contentious" and provided "a non-functional description." Seventy such sunken-featured buildings were recorded at the site.
Halls
The other category of building uncovered at West Stow consisted of seven larger structures held up by wooden posts which left behind postholes; the excavators interpreted these as halls. Five of these buildings were located along the central spine of the hill, with the other two being positioned on the north side and south side respectively. All of the buildings were roughly positioned east to west, although the hall on the north slope was instead orientated north-west to south-east.
Four of the halls are simple, rectangular areas which are defined by their single row of post holes. Another, Hall No. 2, was more complex than the others, having an internal division and double post-holes along the length. No. 7 was also different because it was built from a sleeper beam and larger post holes, while Hall No. 5 cannot be clearly defined because it lay in area that had seen multiple features rebuilt on top of it.
Hall 1 was located on the eastern end of the site, and survived as the most clearly defined of the post-built structures. in length and in breadth, there are gaps in the south and east side walls, suggesting the existence of two doorways. No hearth was found, although a patch of burnt sand, in diameter, was found in the centre of the hall. No objects were found within the building, although four were uncovered from the post-holes: a Roman bronze coin from the era of Emperor Valens, a flat iron strip, a flat palette and a fragment of a pottery spindle-whorl.
Hall 2, which was probably the largest of the structures, was located on the crest of the hill, surrounded by SFBs. in length and in width, there was a partition down the eastern side of the building, creating a chamber wide. East of the hall's centre was a patch of burnt sand, marking the position of a hearth. The position of the doorway is not entirely clear, although excavators believed that it was most likely on the south side, close to the partitioning wall. Items discovered in Hall 2 included a Roman bronze coin from the era of the Emperor Victorinus, bronze and iron strips, a bone pin, fragments of both glass and a loomweight, as well as a variety of iron objects, including a knife, nail, plate and key.West 1985. p. 11.
The incomplete Hall 3, on the same axis as Halls 1 and 2, was akin in shape and size to the former, but much of its south side had been obliterated by the subsequent construction of other buildings on that site. Fifteen items were found in the interior of the Hall, including three bronze Roman objects; a coin from the era of Emperor Constantine I, a ligula and a dolphin brooch, as well as fragments of glass, a spindlewhorl, and a series of iron objects. Also on this axis was Hall 4, which was also heavily obscured by later building, but it appeared to cover an area at least long and wide. Only three finds were discovered from within it; a Roman bronze coin from the era of Emperor Crispus, a Roman glass fragment and a triangular bone comb.
Hall 5 was located on the south-eastern corner of the settlement, on the lowest slope of the hill. Like with several other of the halls, its plan has been obscured by subsequent buildings constructed on the site, although a large number of postholes and three hearths were uncovered; this has led excavators to believe that there had been two halls on that site, one known as 5A and the other as 5B. Finds from the buildings included a number of items made out of bronze, iron and bone.West 1985. pp. 11–12.
Hall 6 was at the far western end of the hill, along as the same east-to-west axis as Halls 1, 2, 3 and 4. At least long and wide, the structure was apparently relatively weak in design, and within it was discovered a Roman bronze spoon, and two iron objects, one of which was possibly a small chisel.West 1985. p. 12. Hall 7 contained a dark layer of material at the occupation layer, with finds including a variety of stones, bones and sherds, along with much burnt daub, unburnt clay mixed with chalk and a broken Anglo-Saxon pot. It has been interpreted as being 37 ft 6in in length and 25 ft 9in in diameter, making it the largest of the halls at West Stow. It was subject to various possible interpretations, although represented the most sophisticated building at West Stow, involving a more advanced technique than that shown for many of the other constructions. Artefacts found at the site included a number of Roman bronze coins, and a variety of bronze, iron, glass and bone artefacts.West 1985. pp. 12–13.
Other features A number of post-built structures were uncovered at the West Stow Anglo-Saxon settlement which were too small to be interpreted as Halls. These postholes tended to be clustered together, suggesting the possibility that they may have been used to repair small structures. No evidence of fencing was found on any of these structures, which were labelled Buildings 8 through to 14 by the excavators.West 1985. p. 14.
At the site, four large areas of grey, disturbed soil were uncovered, three of which were in the eastern side of the settlement. Stratigraphically dated to the Anglo-Saxon period, they all contained a number of small potsherds, with Hollows 1 and 4 also containing a number of bronze and iron objects. The purpose of these Hollows is unknown, although chief excavator Stanley West speculated that they may have represented animal pens which were once surrounded by a form of hurdling or light fencing, traces of which have not survived.West 1985. pp. 53–54.
79 pits at the site were also dated to the Anglo-Saxon period, with a further 20 possibles also being identified. This latter group included 12 pits forming a separate group, each of which was rectangular in shape, vertically sided, flat bottomed, and containing a buff sand filling. Their purposes remain unknown.West 1985. pp. 55–57.
In the final phase of settlement at the site, it is evident that several ditches were dug, often containing fragments of Ipswich ware and other artefacts. Those ditches dug on the village's western sector appeared to have been used to define certain areas of the settlement, while those on the eastern side serve no apparent functional purpose.West 1985. pp. 54–55.
Artefacts
Roman Objects These objects were found in Anglo Saxon context but relate to Romano-British occupation Bracelets and Finger Rings Bracelets and Rings are not common in Anglo-Saxon graves, many of those found at West Stow are of Romano-British origin including ones made of twisted wire, jet, flat decorated bands, and narrow bands with serrated edges. Of the rings, four were clearly of Roman origin, one made of bronze and three of glass. Brooches Three brooches and one brooches spring of Roman origin were found consistent with the late iron age settlement, or early activity phases. Eleven others were recovered from Roman features. Spoons