Settlers, longships and place names
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What you will learn
By the end, you can tell an Anglo-Saxon place name from a Viking one and put the settlers of Britain in order.
In 1939, diggers at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk uncovered the shape of a ship 27 metres long, pressed into the sand. Every plank had rotted, but the iron rivets stayed in place — and so did the treasure: a helmet, gold buckles, silver bowls. It was the burial of an Anglo-Saxon king from about AD 625.
Read the explanation
After the Romans left, Angles, Saxons and Jutes sailed from northern Europe and settled in Britain from about AD 450. They farmed, built wooden halls and formed kingdoms such as Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria; "England" means "land of the Angles". From AD 793 Vikings from Scandinavia arrived in fast longships — first raiding, later settling in the north and east. In 1066 William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings and became king.
- Anglo-Saxon (Old English) name endings: -ham (village), -ton (farm or settlement), -ford (river crossing).
- Viking (Old Norse) name endings: -by (farm or village), -thorpe (small settlement), -thwaite (clearing).
- Longships were long, light and shallow, so they could cross the sea and then row far up rivers.