All trussed up!
The volunteers have been doing stirling work with the Saxon hall, which has started to gradually turn white. Not snow but the first coat of limewash on the gable end. […]
Category Archives: Saxon
Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
The big wattle and daub job on the Saxon longhall continued this week despite a grevious setback. Sadly the freezing weather wreaked havoc on the last lot of daub before […]
Feasting for science
In late December the Hands on Heritage volunteers undertook an experimental archaeology project in the Saxon longhall. It was designed to test the effect of eating and drinking too much […]
Gripping stuff
Activity continues on both buildings despite being too cold for rendering. The cob walls inside the Roman building are being straightened out in preparation for plastering and the spaces between […]
Is Beckery the earliest British monastery?
A series of seven radiocarbon dates from the monastic cemetery at Beckery near Glastonbury are possibly the earliest archaeological evidence for monasticism in the British Isles. They suggest that the […]
How to disguise a wall
On one side of the Roman building a traditional Roman deception has been carried out. The wet lime render has been scored to make it resemble a face of finely […]
Once more to the breach!
Once more to the breach dear friends, once more. For to close up the wall with our English daub. In November there’s nothing so becomes a person as modest shivering […]
Gripping beasts
Decorative bargeboards are going up on the gable ends and above the doors of the Saxon longhall. Together with Mike’s beasts, they will add a fearsome touch and keep away […]
The roof is on!
Hurrah! After putting on about 15,000 hand split oak shakes the roof of the Saxon hall has been completed. A traditional Saxon celebration of roast pork, mead, carrot cake and […]
Shaking in the sunshine
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 […]
Avalon Marshes 'Hands on Heritage' 