Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

The Modern Antiquarian Forum » round houses	Log In to post a reply

33 messages	Topic View: Flat \| Threaded

tjj

1677 posts

Edited Sep 08, 2010, 23:44

Re: round houses

Sep 08, 2010, 22:43

How about 'jelly-baby' houses in the Shetlands.

Again quoting Rodney Castleden from Britain 3000BC

The Shetland houses are simple oval drystone structures 10-15m long. Each one encloses a single oval chamber 7-8m long with a smaller chamber 3-4m in diameter opening out like an apse at the inner end. The more elaborate structure sometimes called the Stanydale Temple is probably just larger.

The neolithic Shetland houses were very similar in plan to the figure-of-eight or jelly-baby houses still being built 3000 years later on the Western Isles. One of these pre-Norse houses was rebuilt as an experiment at Bosta on Great Bernera in 1998. The roof timbering began as two cones with the taller cone covering the main chamber. When it became clear that water would be trapped in the gully between the cones, their apices were joined by a ridge pole. This made a ridge roof that was strong, waterproof and windproof, as it tapered down into the north wind (Neighbourand Crawford 2001). Interestingly, the neolithic house in Shetland are oriented in the same way, with the smaller chamber to the north; perhaps we now have the explanation.

(I haven't read all the posts under this thread so apologies if this is a duplication)

In reply to:
round houses (Rhiannon)

Topic Outline:

round houses – Rhiannon, Aug 13, 2010, 09:17


The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index