so here's how i feel about rural settlement in England during the Anglo Saxon period:
Rural Settlement in England During the Anglo Saxon Period
Its very difficult to generalise rural life in the Anglo-Saxon period. Conflicting evidence suggests that not all rural settlements worked the same way. Lovelucks report on the excavation at Flixborough makes various attempts to justify the site as a basis for all rural settlements1 and even the report of Mawgan Porth claims it to be a type-site (explain)2. In layout that may be true but we cant really give it much more than that. The site at Flixborough (the name) is very important however as it shows that not only were the sites different from settlement to settlement (especially in terms of crafts) it shows the social progression of the site as it spans about four hundred years from the late 7th century on before in moved a few miles east. It displays the evolution in skills learned from stone, to iron and woodwork and leather-work etc. The different stages therefore providing information of different crafts and volume of evidence. Unfortunately the report is difficult to follow as it is very much written in an archaeological language but findings were similar to other sites.
So here are the things we do know we familiar to most rural sites. They were usually near wooded areas, the people were farmers and sometimes fishermen and often skilled craftsmen. They lived in rectangular shaped house with a hearth in the middle and a hole in the top to let smoke from the fire out as you have seen in many examples of medieval housing. They were also usually located in close proximity to a burial ground. These burial grounds were divided with adults in one section and children and youths in another. The amount of dead children to adults is testament to what we already know about the mortality rate of the period.
How we know all this is of course a result of what has been found on the sites. The burial grounds have clearly been found. Animal bones of cats, dogs, sheep, cows and pigs are evidence of their farming lifestyle and their proximity to animals. In the case of Mawgan Porth there is also evidence of fighting cocks. Also backing this up are the rooms of the rectangular house (which we know are rectangular through the findings post holes giving away the shape of the buildings), in this houses there was often a room for the animals in the same house as the people. Needless to say this probably didnt help the mortality rate. Geographical histories maintain their proximity to wooded areas and that we believe most houses were made from wood means they cant have been too far away. Evidence of awls and tools for use in leather, wood and iron making in rural sites suggest a lifestyle of crafts within rural communities. These were made from stone, wood, iron, bronze and animal bone. Brooches of varying degrees of detail display how developed the skills of different settlements were. Coins found give not only aid us in dating settlements but also suggest that it was not merely a like-payment trading society. Pottery of course is also a mainstay of rural life and not only displays the skill developed by these early communities but also helps us to date them based on style3.
The size of these settlements also changes. Although the Domesday book is written after the fact it is a good indication of population sizes at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. About 86 people seems to be a high estimate of some sites and by comparison to this which i find kind of staggering we see recorded populations in Westwick to the north west of Cambridge of 3, Brandenham in Buckinghamshire of 2, and Tiddington in Oxfordshire of 1. Therefore while there may have been a good social presence in many of these settlements, far from being the bustling market square of a town, rural life could be a very lonely existence.
Settlement patterns were generally riverine (beside rivers) but sometimes nucleated. Much of the southeast of the country is chalk-land which lends itself to arable and sheep farming and elsewhere there was a more mixed economy with with cattle and dairy farming being a substantial component4. Viking settlements in the northern Danelaw is more and adaption or re-division of pre-existing settlements rather than a whole new settlement structure. Rectangular houses were again commonplace and life appeared to be similar to that of a anglo-saxon rural life, the difference in art being the main way were can differentiate the settlements. 5
Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon age seems to produce more questions than we could ever answer. This is certainly true of the rural settlement throughout the period.
Mawgan Porth
Mawgan Porth is different from many sites in that despite its later date it shows few signs of Iron or metal objects (a few nails and small knives). It is extremely well preserved dues its stone buildings and its quick burial from blown sand. Like Flixborough there is evidence of the structures being built on previous structures. There is no evidence of jewelry work such as potter etc.
Penny found gives us fixed central date: 990-95 AD
Well preserved houses with one wall still reaching 5-ft.
Closely associated settlement.
Large quantity of stratified pottery.
Stone implements and artifacts.
Quantities of bone and shell. (despite no evidence of fishing)
Traces of box beds, hearths, wall cupboards, stone-lined pits or containers.
Death of 50 individuals during its 150 to 200 year life-span.
Sheep, cows, pigs.
What has been deduced for Magwan Porth is that The people were excellent builders, deliberate in the positioning of their houses:
South facing slope
Low houses partially dug into the hill
turfed roofs held down with perforated thatched weights
back of the house facing the prevailing wind from the sea
Well built surfaces drains covered with stone slabs to carry off water
Their livestock was mainly small celtic ox and sheep or goats.
They kept horses, dogs and cats and fighting cocks for relaxation.
No hard evidence of fishing but evidence of great quantities of muscles cooked.
Bones shaped to open mussels. (they also ate snails)
Little sign of agriculture.
Little sign of metal work beside a few nails and two small knives. They lived a fairly unsophisticated life but the coin found shows signs of trading, perhaps hides. They lived in what is the described in the report as a stone and bone economy. Stone and bone tools were discovered and what they think were stone loom weights suggest the practice of weaving. 2000 shards of cooking pottery and six hundred others display this craft as their most prolific. The cooking pottery shards were all of varying sizes but of one pattern6.
One death every three years suggests to me a decent size population but it is important to understand just how small a settlement can be.
Rural Settlement in England During the Anglo Saxon Period
Its very difficult to generalise rural life in the Anglo-Saxon period. Conflicting evidence suggests that not all rural settlements worked the same way. Lovelucks report on the excavation at Flixborough makes various attempts to justify the site as a basis for all rural settlements1 and even the report of Mawgan Porth claims it to be a type-site (explain)2. In layout that may be true but we cant really give it much more than that. The site at Flixborough (the name) is very important however as it shows that not only were the sites different from settlement to settlement (especially in terms of crafts) it shows the social progression of the site as it spans about four hundred years from the late 7th century on before in moved a few miles east. It displays the evolution in skills learned from stone, to iron and woodwork and leather-work etc. The different stages therefore providing information of different crafts and volume of evidence. Unfortunately the report is difficult to follow as it is very much written in an archaeological language but findings were similar to other sites.
So here are the things we do know we familiar to most rural sites. They were usually near wooded areas, the people were farmers and sometimes fishermen and often skilled craftsmen. They lived in rectangular shaped house with a hearth in the middle and a hole in the top to let smoke from the fire out as you have seen in many examples of medieval housing. They were also usually located in close proximity to a burial ground. These burial grounds were divided with adults in one section and children and youths in another. The amount of dead children to adults is testament to what we already know about the mortality rate of the period.
How we know all this is of course a result of what has been found on the sites. The burial grounds have clearly been found. Animal bones of cats, dogs, sheep, cows and pigs are evidence of their farming lifestyle and their proximity to animals. In the case of Mawgan Porth there is also evidence of fighting cocks. Also backing this up are the rooms of the rectangular house (which we know are rectangular through the findings post holes giving away the shape of the buildings), in this houses there was often a room for the animals in the same house as the people. Needless to say this probably didnt help the mortality rate. Geographical histories maintain their proximity to wooded areas and that we believe most houses were made from wood means they cant have been too far away. Evidence of awls and tools for use in leather, wood and iron making in rural sites suggest a lifestyle of crafts within rural communities. These were made from stone, wood, iron, bronze and animal bone. Brooches of varying degrees of detail display how developed the skills of different settlements were. Coins found give not only aid us in dating settlements but also suggest that it was not merely a like-payment trading society. Pottery of course is also a mainstay of rural life and not only displays the skill developed by these early communities but also helps us to date them based on style3.
The size of these settlements also changes. Although the Domesday book is written after the fact it is a good indication of population sizes at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. About 86 people seems to be a high estimate of some sites and by comparison to this which i find kind of staggering we see recorded populations in Westwick to the north west of Cambridge of 3, Brandenham in Buckinghamshire of 2, and Tiddington in Oxfordshire of 1. Therefore while there may have been a good social presence in many of these settlements, far from being the bustling market square of a town, rural life could be a very lonely existence.
Settlement patterns were generally riverine (beside rivers) but sometimes nucleated. Much of the southeast of the country is chalk-land which lends itself to arable and sheep farming and elsewhere there was a more mixed economy with with cattle and dairy farming being a substantial component4. Viking settlements in the northern Danelaw is more and adaption or re-division of pre-existing settlements rather than a whole new settlement structure. Rectangular houses were again commonplace and life appeared to be similar to that of a anglo-saxon rural life, the difference in art being the main way were can differentiate the settlements. 5
Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon age seems to produce more questions than we could ever answer. This is certainly true of the rural settlement throughout the period.
Mawgan Porth
Mawgan Porth is different from many sites in that despite its later date it shows few signs of Iron or metal objects (a few nails and small knives). It is extremely well preserved dues its stone buildings and its quick burial from blown sand. Like Flixborough there is evidence of the structures being built on previous structures. There is no evidence of jewelry work such as potter etc.
Penny found gives us fixed central date: 990-95 AD
Well preserved houses with one wall still reaching 5-ft.
Closely associated settlement.
Large quantity of stratified pottery.
Stone implements and artifacts.
Quantities of bone and shell. (despite no evidence of fishing)
Traces of box beds, hearths, wall cupboards, stone-lined pits or containers.
Death of 50 individuals during its 150 to 200 year life-span.
Sheep, cows, pigs.
What has been deduced for Magwan Porth is that The people were excellent builders, deliberate in the positioning of their houses:
South facing slope
Low houses partially dug into the hill
turfed roofs held down with perforated thatched weights
back of the house facing the prevailing wind from the sea
Well built surfaces drains covered with stone slabs to carry off water
Their livestock was mainly small celtic ox and sheep or goats.
They kept horses, dogs and cats and fighting cocks for relaxation.
No hard evidence of fishing but evidence of great quantities of muscles cooked.
Bones shaped to open mussels. (they also ate snails)
Little sign of agriculture.
Little sign of metal work beside a few nails and two small knives. They lived a fairly unsophisticated life but the coin found shows signs of trading, perhaps hides. They lived in what is the described in the report as a stone and bone economy. Stone and bone tools were discovered and what they think were stone loom weights suggest the practice of weaving. 2000 shards of cooking pottery and six hundred others display this craft as their most prolific. The cooking pottery shards were all of varying sizes but of one pattern6.
One death every three years suggests to me a decent size population but it is important to understand just how small a settlement can be.