Agriculture

The post Romano-British and the early Saxon migrants seem to have been technically primitive people. Both appeared to have lost the ability to manufacture pottery and iron on an industrial scale or make ploughs as advanced as those in the Iron Age.  Hence heavy soils were avoided and lighter soils closer to the heathland were to be preferred - almost a return to Bronze-age farming.^{8 p124} Settlements were generally small and scattered; often of a temporary nature and inclined to move position.  The settlements favoured damp places, so meadow land and springs on the lower heathland would be ideal.

Saxons had a different perspective from current farmers.  The heaths were essential for raising sheep which would provide meat, clothing, perhaps milk and essential dung for the fields.  Woodland would be of next importance for fuel and autumn forage for the animals.  Meadow was essential to provide hay to keep the plough oxen alive in the winter.  Only when these three essentials were producing could a farmer turn to growing crops on arable land.^{8 p127}

^{Arable land would often be in the form of common fields, i.e. large fields in which each person held narrow 1 acre strips.  See the page on the medieval period for more information on the organisation of common fields in our area.}

Trade and Industry

During the last half century of Roman occupation, coin use seems to have diminished.  It seems that the supply of coins from Rome to pay the troops and for supplies simply dried up.  Without coins, centralised industry became non viable.  The specialised and centralised pottery and iron industries needed a market economy within which coin circulated. After the soldiers ceased to be paid in cash, and especially after the departure of the Romans, such an economy no longer existed, and the end of the industries inevitably followed.  The surviving population , who had relied on buying their pottery from mass-producers, were simply unable to make pottery themselves and no doubt reverted to using wood and leather containers.  ^{1 p11}  There is evidence all along the Windle Brook of  iron smelting on a cottage industry scale.  This activity using such poor grade ore, and which must have been very inefficient, may well date from this time.

Saxon coin found at Chertsey 5

By late Saxon times the money economy once again developed and by the 10th century coins were produced at a mint at Guildford. ^{4, p131}  Though coinage was used to some degree by ruling classes it was nothing like as prominent in society as it was during the Roman occupation. Many people would have existed by using a bartering system, exchanging their excess produce for the items they needed.  This period saw a rapid growth in trade and the economy which led to the development of our nearest Saxon towns at Kingston and at Guildford - where the Downs trackway descends to the River Wey where it cuts through the North Downs.  

The average family would have required many items that they could not themselves produce. 

Woodcutting

Trade and markets played an important part in everyday life. Certain products like salt, iron, wine, stone, tools and weapons were traded over wide areas. 

Cottage industries would have contributed to the family economy. Textile production, leather working and even brewing were all popular skills employed by the Anglo-Saxons.

References:-

1    Tony Wilmott, British Archaeology, Feb 2002

4    Hidden Depths, Ed. Roger Hunt, Surrey Archaeological Society, 2002

5    Coin Register from British Numismatic Journal 65 (1995), no. 79.

8    Shaping Medieval Landscapes. Tom Williamson. Pub:WINDgather Press 2003