So in the 7th century, what is today England was starting to emerge into a series of cohesive polities such as the kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and so on. Following the collapse of Roman authority in Britain, rulership devolved into numerous local groups that were unable to effectively control large areas of land. The migrants that came into Britain rarely built in stone and much of this period is poorly represented in archaeological sites. Urban life collapsed following the end of roman rule in Britain, and cities were abandoned, squatted in, and stripped for resources, but not maintained or actively built up.

So buildings would almost as a rule have been primitive wooden structures that more closely resembled buildings in Northern Germany and Scandinavia than prior Romano-British buildings. Furniture, floors, proper walls even would be in short supply for much of the poorest part of the population. Later on in the 7th and 8th centuries there would start to be some larger more impressive structures such as the proposed palace complex in Northumbria and eventually former Roman cities would come back to life. Bede described a few other complex structures in his history of the English church, but his accounts are assumed to be second hand. He does however mention temple structures, but does not go into great detail. However buildings still would have been wooden and sparsely furnished in the overwhelming number of cases.

Larger settlements would be built around central longhouse perhaps with some rudimentary defenses such as palisade walls. These halls would also be very similar to continental antecedents, again likely lacking floors or large amounts of furniture.