Little England

Lost villages, factory villages, tourist villages: these pieces of England tell their own story. Archaeologist Ben Robinson chooses his top 10, and we reveal a great place to pitch up

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One of the many marvellous things about English villages is their huge variety. Even neighbouring villages can develop very differently, their characters reflecting their own histories and the people, influences, mishaps and opportunities that have shaped them over centuries.

It is a joy to explore an unfamiliar village and stumble across some unexpected, extraordinary feature that I haven’t seen before and it’s almost possible to find a favourite for every day of the year.

This selection includes those I love that illustrate key village-heritage themes and share characteristics with many other places.

It’s no coincidence that they are also great to visit for non-historical reasons - not least good walks, a cup of tea and a slice of cake, or a decent pint.

1 The origins of English villages

West Stow, Suffolk

The present-day village of West Stow has some very notable historic features: a Tudor manor house and a church mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The village’s origins, however, lie further back in time. In the 1960s, archaeologists excavated the remains of an early Anglo-Saxon settlement here.

This was an important leap forward in our understanding of Dark Age England. Most English villages get their names from settlements founded during this period, but physical evidence of those village ancestors is elusive.

The timber buildings of Anglo-Saxon West Stow, built between 400 AD and 650 AD, had all gone centuries before the Norman Conquest.

What remained were impressions of holes that held structural posts, large hollows that defined ‘grubenhaus’ (or sunken-feature) buildings and the discarded artefacts of everyday village life.