Despite the intense heat, work has been continuing on the Saxon hall, with wattling of the gable ends and walls using hazel from woodland on Cothelstone Hill. The battens are appearing on the roof and experiments with the spacing of the oak shakes have been done. The ‘shakes’ are small, radially split, oak boards that are attached to the horizontal battens to make the roof covering. Shakes are sometimes called shingles, although modern shingles are now normally sawn rather than split and are often from species such as Cedar, rather than the more traditional oak or chestnut.

Martin, Lucy and Marc batten down to work

demonstration of the Captain Hook safety harness

Shake or shingle – answers on a postcard

Mike at the gable

Gable end nearing completion

Wattling walls