2 things I like about a village far behind the line. Watchtower, and messenger post.
Watch tower makes it longer for the enemy to raid it which means it is wasting time on your village instead of I don't know fighting your allies or assisting his marshal in a siege.
Messenger posts built after the watch makes it even better, since you know where exactly one of the enemy armies are, and can attempt to destroy it since you also know it is going to be sitting there for some time.
Mill, manor and school is useless since cities and enterprises are your main sources of income that are hard to cripple. The money you would spend on a manor could fuel a war to gain at least a castle, and I've never really found it beneficial to raise popularity past 10, or 20 in some cases, but you could do it cheaper than a schools cost would allow.