Chest picked up north of a large South African village (5)
I believe the answer is:
kraal
'south african village' is the definition.
(South African term for a small rural village)
'chest picked up north of a large' is the wordplay.
'chest' becomes 'ark' (historical term for a chest).
'picked up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'north of' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go above others).
'large' becomes 'L' (eg in clothes sizes).
'ark' in reverse letter order is 'kra'.
'kra'+'a'+'l'='KRAAL'
(Other definitions for kraal that I've seen before include "African hutted village" , "African hut-village" , "African hut village" , "African village enclosure" , "Fenced settlement" .)