Meet The South Folk

....but before we find the South Folk we'll call in at a little car park and picnic site that's much loved by van drivers wanting a quiet spot for their lunch-break. Les recalled stopping here during his days as a TV engineer. Few of those who stop ever get out to look around and even fewer will be aware of its importance to the history of science.

OK, it's fairly typical of the scrubby landscape that develops when the Breckland is left to its own devices. It's called Ramparts Field and in 1860 Joseph Prestwich and John Evans came here to dig about and search for evidence that flint implements were around at the same time as what they referred to as "antediluvian animals". Darwin had published his Origin of Species just the previous year and now the hunt was on to prove, or disprove, his contention that life on earth had developed in ways, and over a time-span, unimagined in the Bible. They found both flint tools and elephant bones but not the fossils they had hoped for.

And now to make the acquaintance of those South Folk....

The Anglo-Saxons came this way around the year 400 and made their homes in this area, gradually establishing the kingdom of East Anglia, which occupied present day Norfolk and Suffolk (the lands of the North Folk and the South Folk) as well as parts of Cambridgeshire. One of their villages was right here at West Stow in Suffolk, where today there's a reconstruction of some of their buildings - though this is no "theme-park re-imagining" as we shall see.

Having paid our entry fee we were greeted by the noble beast above. It's actually a cross between several traditional breeds to try to emulate the kind of pigs that might have existed 1,600 years ago.

In the foreground is a building to shelter livestock, while behind it lie the kind of buildings occupied by the Anglo-Saxons themselves.

Archaeologists are a varied bunch and, while some have the skills to analyse tiny samples of wood or bone with expensive scientific instruments, others take a more practical approach. And so it was that when this site was investigated in the early 1970s some of those present decided to test their theories as to how the buildings might have looked by reconstructing them using the tools and materials available to the Anglo-Saxons. Above is their workshop area.

The building above, known as "The Oldest House" was their first effort. They soon found that some of their methods were unsuccessful and others, which may have been used elsewhere, were wrong for this location. But that was the point of the exercise - to see what worked and what didn't. In fairness they didn't have much to go on apart from the size and arrangement of postholes, the location of fires and odd chance survivals from those dim and distant days.

Other buildings incorporating different ideas followed, such as the one above. It's called "The Living House" and would have slept around ten people. What's more you can go inside all these buildings (except the first one I showed you, which is on the point of collapse). The door's open - lets take a look.

The raised sleeping platform is covered with animal skins. We were surprised to see that the fire-box was made of wood, but it's obviously been used and apparently works. There's no chimney; the smoke had to find its own way out through the gaps in the thatch.

Up in the rafters more animal skins grinned down on the sleeping inhabitants.

An open door beckons us into "The Weaving House". Notice the simple wooden catch and the fact that the whole door is held together with wooden dowels. 

Up in the roof-space skeins of dyed yarn are stored.

And here's the simple loom, the vertical threads held taut by clay weights; they are often the only remaining clue that weaving took place in a location.

"The Farmer's House" is next. The village is thought to have been inhabited from AD 420 to 650. In other words from soon after the Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Jutes and other tribes began arriving here from continental Europe. Long after the site was deserted it became buried by wind-blown sand (a frequent occurrence in the Breckland of those times). As the sand was unsuitable for agriculture everything lay undisturbed for centuries, till the archaeologists arrived in the 1970s.

I became fascinated by the uncomplicated functionality of these door-catches. This one looks as though it could be flipped over so that it could be opened from outside. Alternatively it could drop into the notch to bar the door and keep the farmer and his family safe inside.

Not that one would want to argue with this farmer, for besides his shield he also had a vicious blade with a six-foot long handle hanging on one of the posts.

That should deter any intruders!

Lastly we'll visit "The Meeting Hall" where the community might gather together, perhaps to hear ancient songs or stories.

Inside it's surprisingly spacious with a large chair at one end, presumably for the leader of the group, while there are benches for everyone else.

For some reason the simple domesticity of this trio of earthenware bowls on their rough-hewn wooden table brought me closest of all to the South Folk - after all, I could well be descended from them!

Take care.