The benefits of large-scale area excavation are amply demonstrated in this study, which began in advance of the construction of the Raunds and Stanwick bypass and was funded largely by the Manpower Services Commission. Five seasons of excavation, followed by four of post-excavation, have produced a major contribution to medieval settlement studies.

The overall story is one of dynamic change in response to changing social and economic factors within a pattern of continuity. The creation of West Cotton Saxon settlement on the edge of the flood plain of the Nene followed the re-conquest of eastern England by the Saxon kings and the resulting establishment of order within what had been the Danelaw. The tenth century saw what was clearly a planned settlement, made up of a square divided into regular rectangular plots, nominally one acre, and subdivided into half- or quarter-acres. The first-generation pre-manorial buildings were enclosed by a timber palisade and a substantial ditch. The improvement in law and order after the Norman Conquest was reflected in the subsequent lack of defence noted. The more open courtyard layout seemed to be contemporary with the laying out of an open-field system. The West Cotton arrangement was paralleled at Furnells, Raunds, Goltho and Faccombe Netherton. It was argued that it represented the process of subinfeudation, the half-hide held in the Clare/Gloucester see by Frambold de Denford.

Turning to the construction details: the Late Saxon buildings were raised on continuous wall trenches with post-in-trench construction, probably stone-built. This was followed by a later phase of principal posts, strongly suggesting upper storeys. They may have been set out as simple multiples of the 16.5-foot rod (5.03 m). One notable feature of this report is the series of site photographs, closely followed on the same page by detailed plans on the same axis. This makes for admirable clarity in commentary. The timber buildings were followed in the twelfth century by those with stone walls, with principal posts in the corners and external staircases indicating upper storeys. The boundary ditches were given similar careful treatment showing the presence of earlier openings, relocated ditch terminals defining entrances and bridging points. Fenced boundaries tended to replace ditch systems enclosing plots related to stock control.

Over-exploitation for arable cultivation seems to have led to catastrophic flooding and the deposition of alluvium; this brought the use of the water mill contiguous to the stone-built manor house to an end. The revenue from the mill was now replaced by the processing of malt (in specially built malt ovens) for brewing, and the fulling of cloth (in stone-built troughs within the kitchen area). The cloth production was linked with the age at death of the sheep on the site, which increased to three or four years, an indicator, the excavator suggests, that sheep were being kept longer for wool than when being killed off for meat.

New buildings appeared in the thirteenth century. They were accompanied by pottery from Lyveden and Stanion, indicating a preponderance of low-quality domestic wares. The twelfth-century manor was more affluent than the peasant tenements and had higher social pretensions, reflected in a profusion of copper-alloy products, a chess piece and the presence of owners of riding horses (prick spur and two snaffle bits). The finds were published separately in a cd-rom, which unfortunately is inconvenient to refer to when reading the text.

The report is especially interesting in that it produced good evidence for a watermill, which strangely ‘progressed’ from a vertical wheel to a later horizontal wheel system: the latter saw both wheel and millstone assembly set on a single vertical axle. The excavation suggests that this regressive move can be explained as being worked by a co-operative group of peasants, subsequently replaced by lords who acquired exclusive rights of milling on another site involving a more complex and expensive technology of the vertical mill.

Further, the production of malt on quite a large scale, producing a likely surplus for market, was demonstrated by the three malt houses, with free-standing ovens and sunken chambers. An abundance of chaff shows it was used as fuel (and flavoured the malt) so wheat straw was preferred. A third type of building found at West Cotton was a series of detached kitchens standing at the opposite end of the courtyard from manor or house (together with dovecot, cess pit and malt house, they would have produced strong smells).

The settlement declined in importance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The manor moved away and was replaced by peasant tenements. It was suggested that with the decline of demesne farming, it was replaced by rent-paying tenants. The site was subject to soil exhaustion, threat of flooding and deterioration of the weather. A rise in sheep farming led to a decline in arable cultivation and the abandonment of malt houses.