Hadrian's Wall has provided even stronger evidence of continuity, though building in timber was apparently replacing stone masonry. At Birdoswald, two Roman granaries were converted to other uses in the fifth century, including a new timber feasting hall. We don't get a good picture of the rural landscape in this period, and most of the small simple farmsteads go unnoticed. What we do notice is the rural defended places, the hillforts, promontory forts, Cornish rounds, and crannogs. Most of these sites have yielded good evidence of long-distance trade and military engineering along with more domestic activities.
Cemeteries are a very promising avenue for further investigation.
Large late and sub-Roman cemeteries have recently been excavated at Ancaster, Brean Down, Shepton Mallet, Cannington, and Poundbury. Here we see changing burial practices among the Britons that may, in some cases, signal the conversion of these communities to Christianity. Apart from many portable objects decorated with Christian symbols, the material evidence for Christianity in late and sub-Roman Britain is meager. Other urban Christian communities are suggested at Carlisle, Worcester, Cirencester, St. Albans, Wells, and Shepton Mallet. Rural Christian sites, many of which were hermitages and monasteries, include Ardwall Isle, Caldey Island, Lundy Island, and St. Helens in the Scillies.