Carvings, gallows and stone
More carvings are underway for the Saxon longhall, based on manuscript images. To inspire quick work, a gallows has been erected against the Roman building to punish laggards. It will […]
Monty Python 50th celebration
In honour of the 50 years of Monty Python silliness, and of one of the best films ever made. Thanks to Richard Barwell for the painting. Needless to say, he […]
Health and safety gone mad!
Stringent new rules have been introduced for lunch breaks on the Viking boat. One volunteer (name witheld) said, ‘its health and safety gone mad. I blame Brussels… and leeks’. The […]
Woodworking and deep thought
Work is going well with the trestle tables for the Saxon hall and other bits of woodworking jobs, such as a new closure device for the ‘Westminster’ door. Meanwhile planning […]
Vikings arrive!
The open day with Vikings was a great success with around 600 people attending.
Sprucing up
A big push was made to tidy up the site for the July open day. The longhall was fitted out with the new furniture and the ceiling in the Roman […]
World’s smallest cinema
The World’s smallest cinema will open to the public for one day only on the 21st of July during the Viking day. The Bulleid and Gray cinema will show a […]
How to close a hypocaust flue?
We are experimenting with a hypocaust system in our Roman dining room. We have 8 flues which take hot air from under the floor, up the wall and out under […]
Hardie but no Laurel – how to make Roman tesserae
Trials have begun on making tesserae for the mosaic floor in the Roman building. Stone (recycled from a Roman building) and tile are cut into rods by a tile cutter […]
Pink to white
The gable end of the Roman building was smeared pink from the red ochre lines by a tarpaulin was supposedly protecting it from red paint. Now re-limewashed, back to white.
'Hands on Heritage' in the Avalon Marshes 