Residential Outdoor Centre of
The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

The Iron Age Hut

With the completion of the wall plate and the gathering of all the materials the work on the roof can begin. A thin pole was planted in the centre of the hut. This will provide a support for the poles as they are erected, and ensure the poles are at the correct height at the roof apex. This is important to ensure the 45 degree angle of the roof. The pole will be removed when the main roof poles are in place. When complete the roof will contain 34 poles.

One of the problems of constructing this type of roof is the crowding of poles at the apex. Our solution is only to have four pairs of 'main' poles meeting at the apex; these rise from the ground for greater strength and are pegged to the wall plate. About 50cms below the apex a ring of short poles was lashed to the main poles and the intermediate poles pegged and lashed to this ring. These are also pegged to the wall plate, but do not carry on down to the ground.

Erecting the roof was comparatively easy. A main pole was pulled up and lashed loosely to the central pole, its partner was then pulled up to oppose it. These two poles could then be lashed together more securely and pegged to the ring beam. The process was repeated until all the main poles were securely fixed. Spacing of the poles around the ring beam was achieved by running a piece of string around the beam and bending it in half. This is not only accurate, but very quick. The whole process of erecting the roof was done single-handed. Two people working might have made the process quicker and slightly easier, but I doubt if there are any advantages to many people working on this task.

With the main poles in place the supporting ring near the top was lashed in place. For extra strength the joints were also pegged with thinner oak pegs. The pegs are probably not necessary. It is very time consuming to make the pegs and drill the holes. In smaller timbers the pegs have to be thin and some of them have failed, and pegging creates too rigid a joint. Lashing provides a very strong joint which is able to flex and adjust to movement. The next stage is to lash and peg shorter poles from the wall plate to the top ring between each of the main poles. This will have to wait until daubing the wall has been completed next week.

Trewern Outdoor Education Centre
Cusop, Hay-on-Wye
Herefordshire. HR3 5RF
Email: office@trewern.bardaglea.org.uk
Tel: 01497 820512
Fax: 01497 820056