An Early Saxon settlement in Suffolk, eastern England extensively excavated in the 1960s. Situated on the northern bank of the River Nank near a Romano-British site, the Saxon settlement was inhabited between the 5th and 7th centuries, at which time it was surrounded by boundary ditches. In the central area a group of flat-bottomed pits and hollows which may have been animal pens were discovered. The predominant type of building found at West Stow was the sunken hut and, strikingly, only two post-built hall houses were excavated. The range of different sunken huts and their particular arrangement and grouping has added enormously to our understanding of these enigmatic buildings. Although certain types were used for industrial purposes (in most cases for wool manufacture and weaving) others were almost certainly dwellings. Many examples had either one or three post holes at either end of the sunken depression, while several buildings showed clear evidence of plank floors over the hollow. Pottery production appears to have been carried out at West Stow, and one group of wares has been attributed to the so-called Illington-Lackford potter who operated in the late 6th century. The reconstruction of one of the Saxon huts is an interesting example of experimental
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied