Qualla: West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village: Introduction

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 1. Rob Farrow 2. Ron Strutt 3. Rob Farrow 4. Keith Evans, CC BY 2.5. The land at West Stow was nearly turned into a rubbish dump. After archaeologists completed their excavations in the early 1970s, the St Edmundsbury District Council considered using the site to service the waste needs of nearby Bury St Edmunds. That plan was reviewed, then shelved. Instead, in 1974, an experimental archaeological project began on the site: the reconstruction of the early Anglo-Saxon village that had been discovered beneath it. The reconstructed buildings are not replicas of imagined medieval homes. They are experimental attempts to understand, through the physical act of building, how people in the fifth and sixth centuries actually constructed timber structures on sand. Over fifty years of reconstruction, decay, and rebuilding have produced answers — and new questions.

Image: 1. Rob Farrow 2. Ron Strutt 3. Rob Farrow 4. Keith Evans | CC BY 2.5

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village: What the Excavators Found

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gordon Griffiths, CC BY-SA 2.0. Evidence of human habitation at West Stow stretches from the Mesolithic through the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Romano-British period. The wider Lark Valley — the River Lark runs along the site's northern edge — contains the greatest known concentration of prehistoric se...

Image: Gordon Griffiths | CC BY-SA 2.0

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village: The Experimental Village

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Stavros1, CC BY 3.0. Beginning in 1974, buildings were reconstructed on the excavated site using period-appropriate techniques and materials. The oldest reconstructed structure — known simply as the Oldest House — dates to 1974. The Sunken House followed in 1976, the Weaving House in 1984, the Living...

Image: Stavros1 | CC BY 3.0

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village: A Place with Layers

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Midnightblueowl, CC BY-SA 3.0. West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village opened to the public with a visitor's centre, museum, and cafe in 1999. The site sits on the north bank of the River Lark, seven miles west of Bury St Edmunds, surrounded by the remnants of prehistoric settlement and early medieval occupation. The wi...

Image: User:Midnightblueowl | CC BY-SA 3.0