The Wychurst Project: Creating a Late Saxon Environment
Based in woodland adjacent to the Wildwood Discovery Park near Canterbury, the Wychurst Project sees the realisation of a dream by Regia Anglorum, a re-enactment group committed to life in the centuries when the locals were building defensive burghs as protection against marauding Vikings.
Following the granting of planning permission, 2 acres of land were purchased in August 2000 and clearance enabled work to begin in earnest. A ditch and rampart were constructed around one acre, following the erection outside this of a small sunken-featured building – the Grubenhaus – and a substantial oak-framed artisan’s cottage with panelled walls and thatched roof – the ‘Gebur’s cottage’ – built for Meridian TV’s ‘Time Tourists’.
Construction is underway inside the defensive features of the largest structure, the Longhall. Historically these served as the home and headquarters of the Thegn of a Manorial Burgh, dominating the landscape and the central focus of all local activity. The Wychurst longhouse will be 60 by 30 foot long and 30 feet high, with a design that meets modern building regulations, quite a feat considering that 23 tons of oak will be used, with timbers 10 inches thick and 20 feet long in some cases! Each of the main uprights weighs nearly a ton.
Regia Anglorum will display examples of the crafts, agriculture and animal husbandry of the time, as well as battle displays. Educational opportunities will play a leading role in the life of the Burgh and it is hoped that many schools and youth groups will explore life in the 11th century!
The Project, a huge undertaking for a private society, is self-financing and labour is voluntary. Work weekends take place regularly and Regia Anglorum would be delighted to hear from anyone with an interest in getting involved; if construction doesn’t appeal, your horticultural knowledge would be welcomed as a great deal of weeding and preparation of the herb gardens on site has to be done. They can be contacted through Nigel Amos, Wychurst Co-ordinator, 5 Kingswood Road, Gillingham ME7 1DZ email: nigel_amos@yahoo.co.uk.
Isle of Thanet branch of the YAC
has had an outdoor summer. On a warm evening in May we enjoyed ourselves washing animal bone from last year’s dig on the Roman Villa at Minster. Members had fun trying to identify the various animals, probably not very successfully, as dinosaur was the preferred identification! Seven members with their parents took part in a history quiz around Broadstairs Harbour in June and in July we all visited the Shell Grotto in Margate. This is a very enigmatic building which has puzzled everybody and defied even carbon-dating. YAC members made their own suggestions for its raison d’être and have been collecting shells all summer ready to make their own version of a panel from the Grotto during the Autumn.
Jose Gibbs
Right: Aerial view of the ditch and rampart.
Below: Regia Anglorum volunteers constructing the framework for the mighty Longhall.
Above: An idealized artist’s impression of the finished interior of the Longhall.
Below: The ‘Gebur’s cottage’.
Kate Kersey