Saxon houses
What did Saxon houses look like? None survive above ground. The only way we can find out is by excavating. There have been a number of excavations in Buckinghamshire that have uncovered Saxon settlement remains. Run a search on Buckinghamshire's Heritage Portal to look for Saxon settlements. Mark on the map attached to this page where there is archaeological evidence for a Saxon settlement.
Research what Saxon houses would have been built out of and what they would have looked like on the internet and in books. How are they different to your houses today? List the differences here:
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There has been a great deal of excavation in Walton, just south of Aylesbury town centre. Look at the copy of the plan of the archaeological features at the Orchard site, Walton that your teacher gives you. All the circles are holes where posts once were but have since rotted away. Archaeologists call them post-holes. They would have supported a building.
Can you work out which post-holes go together to form a house or houses? We have shaded a few in so you can start to see patterns.
Do a reconstruction drawing of a Saxon house. You can work out the size and shape from the excavation plans and what they were made of and how they looked from this reconstruction on the right.
Go back to find more Changes in the landscape.