History in the making ...

Hurst's very own Iron Age Roundhouse takes shape

Hurst is constantly developing opportunities to encourage children to engage with environmental, heritage and creative activities on its 140 acre country campus.

One strand of this process involved ESAMP (East Sussex Archaeological and Museums Partnership) being invited to run a major project at Hurst to build an Iron Age Roundhouse using traditional building methods.

Every child in Hurst Prep and Pre-Prep, from Reception to Year 8, has been involved in the construction of the building, while also taking part in a range of period craft based activities at the site including pottery, weaving, cooking and excavation.

Once completed, the building will provide a valuable additional resource, adding to the many and varied features on the campus around which creative, play and adventure activities can be based.

The roundhouse’s timber skeleton is created using round posts hammered into the ground in the rough shape of a circle. Thinner branches (in this case of hazel) were then woven in and out of the posts to form the wall. When used in this way, the branches are known as ‘wattles’. Here two of Hurst’s Pre-Prep children are helping to push down the wattles to help create a strong wall that can later be ‘daubed’ with a mixture of clay from the school’s grounds and straw. At this early stage, the door to the roundhouse is mounted.

Meanwhile, Pre-Prep children learn how simple pots were made and how clothes were woven

and worn. Back at the roundhouse, Prep children learn how to 'daub' the wattle with a mixture of clay and straw.

See for yourself how the Roundhouse was built

If you pass your mouse over the video box below and click on the start button when it appears you will see a stop frame video of the roundhouse being built. This is a relatively low quality video because it has had to be strongly compressed to ensure that the entire 20 minutes will load progressively and smoothly. Thanks to Paul Cremor, IT Support Staff member, who took many hours to patiently edit this material.