In this Virtual Branch talk Professor John Blair demonstrates how recent excavations enable us to grasp for the first time the diversity of the Anglo-Saxon built environment. Professor Blair's book Building Anglo-Saxon England explores how the natural landscape was modified for human activity, and how settlements were laid out with geometrical precision by specialist surveyors. It also shows how the Anglo-Saxon love of elegant and intricate decoration is reflected in the construction of the living environment, which in some ways was more sophisticated than it would become after the Norman Conquest.  

Professor John Blair is Fellow and Praelector in History at The Queen's College, Oxford, and Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford.

If you're a member of the HA you can watch a recording of the lecture online:

• Primary members view here
• Secondary members view here
• Historian members view here
• Student (14-18) members view here