- Rural Life and Farming -
Figure 11.5 Two four-post overhead granaries under construction.
(Copyright: Peter Reynolds.)according to the region and range from dry-stone walled houses in Cornwall, Wales,
the Cotswolds and Scotland to plank walls and wattle and daub in other areas and
even chalk walls in southern England. However, the reality of such houses needs to
be fully appreciated if the description of mere 'hut' is to be dispelled.
In general terms there are three basic forms of house construction revealed by
excavation and, indeed, tested by empirical constructs. The evidence, with rare
exceptions, is normally in negative form in that all that is found are the stake holes,
postholes and foundation layers of stones or chalk blocks. The simplest form of
round-house is evidenced by a single ring of stakeholes, the doorway only being
distinguished by a pair of postholes. The regular occurrence of daub fragments,
occasionally burned and thus preserving the impressions of wattles, argues that such
houses were made of a wicker wall in the form of a circular basket, the break for the
doorway comprising two major posts surmounted by a lintel mortised and tenoned
into place. The doorway, in fact, has to be substantial to counteract the outward
thrust exerted by the interwoven wall. The height of the walls of such houses is to
a large extent conjectural although an experimental construct of the second type
of house discussed below indicated a height of 1.50 m. The waterlogged remains of
an Early Christian round-house in Northern Ireland supports this estimate. In
practical terms such a height obviates unnecessary stooping within the building. Of
particular note is the sheer strength of this type of wall, especially when newly
built.
Although the component elements are themselves relatively weak, the stakes
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