East Matfen medieval village + open field system

sketchfab

Medieval villages thrived as vibrant agricultural communities, strategically located at the heart of a parish or township, where residents pooled resources like arable land, meadow, and woodland to sustain their livelihoods. Village layouts diversified significantly, but when unearthed through earthworks, they reveal roads and pathways, platforms that supported homes and other structures such as barns, enclosed fields, and small paddocks. The parish church often stood within the village's boundaries, and under the manorial system, most villages boasted one or more manorial centers that left behind visible remnants above ground and hidden treasures below. These villages were a hallmark of medieval life, and their archaeological remains are a treasure trove of information about rural existence in the centuries following the Norman conquest.