Anglo-Saxon settlers built Early Medieval pit houses with primitive tools, digging foundations, raising earth and wattle walls and thatched or shingle roofs.

After gaining victory over the Britons at the Battle of Peonnum in 658 A.D. the Gewissæ pushed south west towards the River Parrett.

While the tribal elites fought for power and territorial control Anglo-Saxon freemen settled unclaimed land amongst their Romano-British cousins.

The first structures built were pit houses, used first as military outposts and dwellings and then as workshops and storehouses once settlements grew and timber longhouses were erected.

Anglo-Saxon pit houses are often found with the remains of loom weights, pottery or metal-working crafts, and are therefore interpreted as craft-related buildings or store houses subsidiary to larger post-built dwellings.

Pit houses or sunken featured buildings are the most common structures found in Anglo-Saxon and Early Medieval archaeological remains.

Today, all that remains archaeologically of these structures is the pit itself and the accompanying post-holes. There is usually little evidence for floors, walls or roof structures.

Reconstructions of Anglo-Saxon pit-houses must therefore incorporate building techniques that are "archaeologically invisible" in order to be accurate or at least plausible.

"Archaeological invisible" building technologies often proposed for Anglo-Saxon pit houses include A-frame rafters resting on the ground, wattle walls staked into the upcast earth but not below ground level, or walls resting on sill beams.

The orientation, pit and post-hole features of this pit house are an accurate reconstruction of Sunken Featured Building 8 excavated at the West Saxon settlement near Lechlade-on-Thames, dated to the 7th century. The archaeological report can be found here: Prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon Settlements to the rear of Sherborne House, Lechlade: excavations in 1997. 2003. C Bateman, D Enright, N Oakey.

https://www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk...

Despite constant warfare between tribal elites, the Anglo-Saxons often peacefully settled land left unoccupied after the Roman withdrawal from Britain, amongst neighbouring Romano-British communities.

This led to considerable cultural exchange between the Anglo-Saxons and Romano-British, resulting in what is now known as Insular culture during the late 7th and 8th centuries.

The base coat of dried grass thatch was covered with a weathering coat of wheat straw thatching.

The thatch was secured with hazel rods, tied tightly to the woven roof below at intervals of around a forearm's length with tarred flax cordage.

The original plan was to spar the straw thatch into the existing grass base coat. However, the dried grass did not grip the spars as well as expected, so the straw thatch was both sparred in and tied to the rafters to secure it.

Thatching spars were made by splitting hazel into quarters, which wee then twisted into spars. When splitting, pressure is always placed towards the thicker side of the wood, to keep the split in the centre.

The roof and porch were ridged by placing timber ridge weights at intervals, which held down a row of hazel rods, keeping in place the straw that was folded across the ridge. The eaves were secured with hazel rods tied to the rafters.

The main thatching was completed in three days, working from dawn to dusk, in order to finish the roof in the rapidly diminishing dry spells of weather. The roof is now fully waterproof during all day heavy rain.

The gable end wattle walls were finished to their final height, including space for a window and triangular smoke hole at each end.

The eaves were trimmed with a sharp knife before daubing the walls.

Earth and straw was mixed with water into daub which was used to cover the wattle walls and seal them at the gable ends and under the eaves on the long sides of the house. The excess upcast earth from the pit was used, rather than dig out earth from another area.

The main exterior of the house is now complete, and the rest of the construction will focus on a timber door and windows, daubing the inner wattle walls and a cob floor.

With thanks to:
Hector Cole, Blacksmith, for forging the Saxon T-shaped Axe.
Grzegorz Kulig, Silversmith, for making the pattern-welded knife.
Matuls, Cooper, for making the alder bucket with hazel rings.

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