A Saxon family work on the construction of a building. Flax fields are visible beyond.
Following Britain’s exit from the contracting Roman Empire, the towns and cities, which had already been in decline during the later part of the Romano-British period, rapidly fall into disuse. Severed from the wider network of the Roman Empire the focus appears to return to the local scale and immediate landscape. However processes were at work which lead to the emergence of Saxon society. At Heathrow a dispersed pattern of settlement seems once again to emerge. For example just south of the present day medieval village of Longford people constructed a settlement consisting of rectangular buildings dating to the 6-7th century AD. People continued to cultivate the land, and also seem to have grown flax to provide linen and oil. Out of this Saxon settlement developed the medieval village of Longford that we see today.
There is some discussion on the nature of this building. Saxon Grubenhausen are thought to have taken several forms. Some believe the internal pits were simply a form of moisture protection for a suspended floor. Others that the pit was also occupied in some way. Most reconstructions show houses faced with close boarding but here daub pits found on the site are interpreted as supplying the materials for the walls.
This image shows an alternative interpretation with low vertical walls.