This is a reconstruction of a village in West Stow, Suffolk. Each village consisted of one or more groups of small huts. Each group of huts belonged to an extended family, including slaves. Some huts were for sleeping in and others were workshops. At the centre of each group of huts was a large hall, where the whole family met.

By 600 AD, Saxon settlements had become small kingdoms. The most important were: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex. At times one king grew powerful enough to be bretwalda, or 'overlord', of the whole country. Any man of the royal family could be king if he gained enough supporters. This led to feuds and war.

Life in Anglo Saxon England was often very violent. When a village was under attack all of the villagers would grab their weapons and fight. The most usual weapons were spears, swords and battle-axes. For protection, some men wore either a leather or chain mail jerkin and a helmet, and many carried a round wooden shield. The Saxons sometimes built defences round their towns. They dug a ditch and used the soil to make an earth wall; then they fixed a sturdy fence on top. Saxons could patrol the wall to keep enemies out.

The earliest Saxon settlers in England were pagans who worshipped a number of gods. The Anglo Saxons carried out sacrifices to please their gods, and tried to use magic spells to get the gods to help them.

There are several Anglo Saxon texts which survive today. This is a page from the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Gospels were written and illuminated by monks in the late 7^th century in the northeast of England. The oldest English poem, Beowulf, was written between 700 and 750. Before this date, the poem was passed on orally. The Anglo Saxons were also very fond of riddles.