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A Great Experience All Round!
In October 2004 a group of Cumbrian HE’ers spent three and a half days building a replica of an iron-age roundhouse at Talkin Tarn, a country park 10 miles east of Carlisle.
We had visited Talkin Tarn in the spring for a session on animal tracks and signs with Dave Pearson, the warden. We identified a variety of spoor and signs of animal activity and enjoyed exploring the woods. At the end we got talking about the Tarn and various ideas and projects Dave had been considering. One idea was to use the thinnings from managing the woodland to make a roundhouse.
Despite being keen to follow up this opportunity, it wasn’t until after the summer that we got all the details together, and it was in the first week of October when about 10 families arrived on site.
We met Dave and discussed ideas and plans, as well as health & safety issues. We had done some research on the project - there is quite a lot of information on various websites about how to go about making a roundhouse, although some aspects are not much more than guesses because little survives for archaeologists to discover. However, in various parts of the world, working with natural materials is still common and much of any design is dictated by the technology and material available. So armed with some ideas and lots of enthusiasm, as well as a willingness to be creative and flexible, we set to by marking out a simple circle.
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How Big?
| After some debate about how big to make it, the first sods were turned and we started work on digging a circular trench, about a foot deep. There was a lot of commitment from the children (& adults!) despite the continual drizzle and rain that fell all day. |  |
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More Logs!
| While the trench was being dug, the pile of birch logs provided by Dave was being sorted through and likely specimens for the main posts identified. |  |
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A solid start
The position of the doorway was decided and post-holes dug in the trench to take 16 main posts around the circle. A deep hole was also dug for the centre pole. The main posts needed stones tamping in around the base to make them fairly solid. In between the posts, other logs and thinner poles were stood in the trench to make the wall. Around the top ran a series of poles to keep the wall logs upright. Later, further horizontal poles were ‘woven’ mid-way up the sides.
By the end of day one, all the main posts had been dug in and the walls had been started. Wet but happy workers finished that evening as the weather finally cleared up. Some families were staying on site and we retired to the roaring log fire in the Blacksmiths Arms for dinner. |  |
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Day Two
The second day saw some extra families arrive and with good weather we managed to press on with the walls and start the roof.
Some great cooperative teamwork took place throughout the build, moving and using materials. Once the wall logs were in place, the trench was filled with stones and earth to secure them.
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Time for a haircut!
By lunch time the walls were up and ready for Dave to use a very non-iron age chainsaw to give the house a haircut. Although we used some modern devices, it was primarily to save time and make the project achievable in the time we had.
We had interesting discussions about the tools and materials that iron-age people would have had available. |  |
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Roof beams
After the trim some long poles were attached to the centre post to act as main roof beams. The ends go all the way to the floor and are dug in thus transfering weight from the roof to the ground so less is on the walls and centre post.
By the end of day 2, the house was starting to look quite impressive. That evening we had a great sunset and a fine campfire before early to bed after two days of hard work. |  |
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Day 3
| Day three was a bright, cold day and work on the roof progressed rapidly while the walls were being worked on. More beams were added to the roof. |  |
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Laths!
| Once the main beams were sorted, horizontal ‘laths’ were put up so that the thatch could be secured. |  |
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Thatch
There are few reeds at Talkin Tarn so for the thatch we were using bundles of birch topping overlapping each other.
The material for the roof had to be gathered from areas that needing thinning and prepared for use. |  |
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Finishing off
We had done about 2/3rds of the roof by the end of day 3 (our original time frame) so we agreed to return a couple of days later to finish it off.
It was all hands to the pumps to complete the roof on the final half-day. |  |
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Some of the team
| Many of the families who were involved in the building, pose for a final picture with a rather good looking roundhouse behind. |  |
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A great result!
Everyone was pleased with the final result, including Dave the warden, and we even got our picture in the paper. The kids had a great time working on a real project from the start right through to completion. It was a very sociable and educational event for all concerned and we have been invited back to have a go at some other ideas that Dave has! One of them is coracle building with ‘sea trials’ on the tarn – but we might wait for warmer weather!
It should survive for a few of years (excluding vandals) although the roof will probably need some work on a regular basis, especially if you were living in it!
Dave hopes to use the roundhouse for story telling, and as a life-size example for school groups who are working on ancient history. We can only hope that the school children have at least half as much fun using it as we did building it!
Post Script: Well, the vandals did indeed strike after easter this year and set fire to the roundhouse. It's a great shame that some people seem to only know how to destroy rather than create. However, the experience continues to exist in our memories and we look forward to other exciting projects.
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