I was wondering if anyone could recommend any resources or books that would be useful in designing (believable) villages, particularly fantasy medieval. I have Life in a Medieval Village - and some similar books - on my reading list already, but I'm looking for anything else.
I'm specifying fantasy medieval because fantasy villages face threats that medieval ones don't. For one thing, the countryside seems rather more dangerous. I don't believe that villages were still being fortified in Britain in medieval times (there still were fortifications; I just don't think that you would encounter villages surrounded by palisades, for several reasons), but that may not be an option for a fantasy village.
I'm not just looking for layout hints, but also how to build a community, with the village at its core, of different types, that could be largely self-supporting, unless it was on a major trade route, as most villages would have been. I think I did something along those lines in GCSE Geography, but that's many moons ago now.