Reassessing the relationship between Early Saxon activity and parish boundaries

The relationship between sites of Early-Anglo-Saxon activity and territorial boundaries, once much-debated, has been subject to little direct exploration in recent years despite its significance for landscape history. This article examines this important relationship using data from the Suffolk Historic Environment Record and the Portable Antiquities Scheme. It is suggested that the association between deserted settlement sites and parish boundaries has a much longer pedigree than is often suggested, persisting through the Norman Conquest and beyond. It is argued the origins of this relationship can be usefully understood in terms of territorial reorganisation following settlement abandonment.