3-day Iron Age Roundhouse Event

[Paul Elliott]

I've been lucky enough to participate in a 3-day occupation of a reconstructed iron age roundhouse at Ryedale Folk Museum in North Yorkshire, England. There were five of us in the roundhouse, but only three sleeping there. We had a continuous 3 day fire and cooked lamb stew, a simple pigeon stew, spit roasted a duck, cooked bean cakes on a flat stone, made a net, practiced firelighting with flint and steel, cooked duck and goose eggs in the ashes, and had a great time drinking meads and beers around the fire in the evening. The doorway is too wide, and has no 'door', so we erected a canvas across it for the night-time and slept in the beds. We brought our own straw bale to refresh the beds. Sleeping on the straw, a deerskin and under blankets, with the fire kept at a low level, we were warm and comfortable. In the early hours, when our sleeper-by-the fire fell asleep and stopped putting logs on , the temperature fell a bit and the smoke settled along the edges where we were sleeping. You woke up with a bit of a cough, and after the weekend I smelled of woodsmoke, but that's a smell I like!

Lots of interest, the day was sunny and we were constantly groups of 3-6 around the house while we cooked or repaired kit, and we took it in shifts to get out into the sunlight to see our friends camped further down the museum. Some great experiences and great photographs. Friend Jamie (Lucos) and myself (Vindos) went out for a bit to play in the woods.

[Paul Elliott]

A few more pictures:







http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php

[Robert Vermaat]

Looking good Paul. My guess is you had a lot of fun! How was food? The beds? Any vermin around?

[Vindex]

Can't see the photographs as snuck in here from work termial (naughty me)

Sounds like SUCH fun!

[Paul Elliott]

No vermin at all, its left bare most of the time. Now if we'd been in there permanently then there would have been lice, flease, mice and rats for sure!

[Epictetus]

I'm very envious. That looks like a lot of fun, and I would love to do something like that.

[M. Demetrius]

Now if we'd been in there permanently then there would have been lice, flease, mice and rats for sure!

...and Romans, eh? :-)

[Nathan Ross]

I hadn't been aware of quite how big those roundhouses could be - the interior shots make this one look enormous!

Do we know how many people were presumed to have lived in a structure like that, or was it perhaps more of a communal gathering-place type of thing?

[M. Demetrius]

A whole family could live in one, comfy as can be, Nathan. I've heard of some that were 7-10m diameter. It's a very well thought out design. How they thatch roofed it, now, that's the real trick! Must have been pretty dangerous.

[Paul Elliott]

Damn, you just reminded me I was supposed to measure the roundhouse for someone!

[Kegluneq]

Those are fascinating photos, thank you for posting them!

Interested to see that you carried out various craft-like activities during the day within the roundhouse. Were you reliant on natural light for that, and if so did you have to keep moving around the inside? It looks quite well lit from the photographs, but I don't know how realistic that is.