Our third camp of the summer was based in the reconstructed
Anglo-Saxon village at West Stow which forms part of a country park
in a former area of gravel extraction and landfill. The
re-constructed village is based upon evidence gained from
excavations carried out by Stanley West between 1965 and 1972 which
revealed the presence of an early Saxon settlement. Since the end
of the excavation programme the site has been a centre for
experimental archaeology and the continuing development of the
understanding of how the Saxons lived.
Working with 20 young people from the Bury and Mildenhall areas the
focus of the week was to be Saxon in character. Cooking would
follow Saxon recipes; crafts such as spinning and dyeing would
follow Saxon techniques and smithing and bread making would use the
forge and bread oven within the village.
The Anglo-Saxon Forge
The staff at West Stow were also keen to explore some of the
post hole plans representing unexplained structures on the site.
Although excavated at the time they received little attention in
post excavation reports so the opportunity to explore one of these
post hole groups seemed both exciting and beneficial to all. A
major part of the week would therefore be the planning and building
of what was thought to be a possible smokehouse. We would use
evidence from the village plus information gathered from other
experiments and working examples in Scandinavia.
Such was the plan! It was August after all and on Monday we
arrived to a persistent drizzle which by Tuesday evening had
strengthened to torrential rain pushed through by gale force winds.
Shelters were blown apart, equipment soaked and our timetable went
out the window. Our main aim was to keep dry so activities were
scaled down and we worked inside the village houses. Still we had
learned one thing…Saxon houses were warm and weatherproof!
Natural Dyeing and Spinning
On Thursday afternoon the weather improved slightly in that the
rain, although still heavy, was falling in showers so a few of the
team were persuaded to leave the warmth and security of the houses
and come out to help with the smokehouse. With time short we
decided to push on with a smaller version of our original and to
simplify the design to a basic turf covered tepee with an igloo
like entrance. Not exactly what was intended but we felt it was
important for the group to have a sense of satisfaction in having a
finished structure.
Building the Smoke House
By mid morning on Friday we were ready to start a fire and hang
beef and fish in the main chamber for smoking. The lack of access
was an obvious problem. A door at the back would save someone
having to crawl in through the stokehole! Getting the fire to draw
was initially difficult but a few small holes poked in the turf at
the back sorted this and once the structure got warm it worked very
well. And what of the food? It was still being smoked when I left
that evening so it has yet to be tried. I will keep you
informed!