Excavations at West Whelpington. Photo by Harry Rowland, 1976.

Between 2000 and 3000 years ago, during what archaeologist call the Iron Age, people created an enclosure at West Whelpington surrounded by a wooden fence. This may have been a settlement, or it may have been a stock enclosure. People certainly lived at West Whelpington approximately 1500 years ago, during what archaeologists call the early medieval or Anglo-Saxon period. Archaeologists have found pieces of pottery, a post hole and a drain dating from this time. Around 500 years later, the village of West Whelpington had at least 25 houses, and possibly a tower house. By 1720 West Whelpington was a deserted medieval village. Today, the site of the village has been destroyed by quarrying. West Whelpington is a Scheduled Monument protected by law.