Anglo-Saxon Houses at Chalton, Hampshire

Abstract

FIELD-WORK undertaken as part of research into the past use of a typical area of south Hampshire downland has revealed an Anglo-Saxon hill-top village of some 6 hectares (75 acres). In a sample excavation two timber houses set end to end were discovered, with traces of several others and fences associated with them. The two houses, built of posts set in continuous trenches, both superseded buildings of posts set in individual post-holes. The houses each had three entrances, two in the side walls and one in the end wall, and in each the E. end was divided into three small rooms. The overall dimensions of the buildings were 11.40 by 6.30 m. and 11.00 by 6.30 m. (c. 37 by 20 ft. and c. 36 by 20 ft.) respectively. Finds include knives, an arrow-head, bones mainly of sheep and deer, and grass tempered pottery. Surface finds suggest the 6th to the 8th centuries as the date of the settlement, which is presumably the predecessor of three near-by medieval valley villages.