By the Iron Age, farming was the main way communities in England got their food. Most people would have lived on a farm or in a small farming village. Everyone, including craftspeople and even warriors, would probably have had to spend some of their time farming.

A typical Iron Age farm might have one or more round houses inside a farmyard enclosed by a hedge and ditch. The land was organised into small fields in which wheat, oats, barley and a range of vegetables such as the ‘Celtic bean’ were grown. Sheep, cattle and pigs were kept as livestock. Most people farmed the same crops and animals though some areas of England were better than others for certain types of farming.

Surplus grain and meat were stored to provide food for the winter. Grain was kept either in pits or granaries while meat would have been preserved by drying, smoking, pickling or dry-curing using salt. This important commodity was made by evaporating saltwater in shallow dishes over a fire. It was central to the success of the farming economy and so was traded long distances across the country.