The Friends of West Stow agreed to fund a set of bookshelves to house those books donated to the site by the late Dr Stanley West, who excavated the site between 1965 to 1972 and was instrumental in setting up the Anglo-Saxon Village and the Friends of West Stow. Those bookshelves have now been assembled and are in the Education Room at West Stow.
Image: The sign which acknowledges funding for the Stanley West Library
The Stanley West Library at West Stow
After a successful request for funding to The Friends of West Stow Anglo-Saxon Settlement, the shelves were purchased in 2025 by West Stow staff.
The staff then had to assemble the ‘flat packed’ shelves in place in the Education Room at West Stow.
It was agreed that the Friends’ funding should be acknowledged by a sign adjacent to the Stanley West Library.
Stanley wished to donate his extensive archaeological library to West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. This donation could be added to the West Stow Archaeological Archive of notebooks, photographs, plans which is so important as background to the story of the Anglo-Saxon Village.
The first element of 14 boxes was collected on October 28th, 2019.
Discussions with Dr West highlighted that many of these publications held information that was instrumental in his interpretation of the archaeology found at West Stow during the excavations.
The books are all interesting, for example Akerman’s, Remains of Pagan Saxondom (1855), which contains hand coloured illustrations including some West Stow cemetery material and was purchased by Stanley West in 1959. This book begins with a quote from Beowulf “Wonders under the mound I explain to you”.
Remains of Pagan Saxondom (1855) by Akerman
An impressive item in the Stanley West Library
The colour plates are especially beautiful, showing objects unearthed from across Britain.
Here we can see plate 35 which shows some of the items found in the West Stow cemetery, not far from the Anglo-Saxon Village. These objects were found by workmen and then given or sold to local antiquarians.
Stanley West donated over 340 books. These were a whole range of titles but all with relevance to the Anglo-Saxons or to the West Stow site. Now accessible to all, it is hoped that they will form part of Stanley’s legacy at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. He said:
“Understanding West Stow has been a major part of my life.”
For more about Stanley West look here