Just over a kilometre from Park Hall is the Old Oswestry Iron Age Hillfort, that is one of the finest hillforts in Britain.

To complement the development of the facilities and educational interpretation of the Hillfort we have built a reconstruction of an Iron Age Roundhouse which was a typical dwelling of an Iron Age community.The construction of the roundhouse has taken several months to complete. Starting on 21st January 2009 it was finally finished in June 2009. The interior has yet to be done.

The construction is of course a specialist skill, so to build the roundhouse we enlisted the talent of Thatching Consultant Patrick Hemmingway from Rossett near Chester who built another roundhouse near Brymbo, Wrexham. Patrick is pictured here on 21st January starting to mark out the post holes for the outer posts which are 1.5 metres apart.The first photo shows a woodland behind which you can make out the outline of the Old Oswestry Hill Fort.

The construction itself will be fascinating to observe and the educational value from both construction and the finished roundhouse will be immense. Our aim is to provide a local resource for schools or groups studying the Iron Age.

As soon as Patrick had marked out the post holes Martyn Hughes (our Managing Director ) started digging out the post holes, modern methods are needed sometimes! Local artist Caroline Lowe will be joining Patrick on the project, she will do all the' wattle and daub' for the walls of the roundhouse and any other hazel or willow weaving that the project requires.

After the post holes were marked out the outer posts were erected, the onset of snow of course hampering the work. As the weather improved Patrick started to erect the inner posts with Park Hall Director Richard Powell and the able assistance of a bit more modern machinery. It was exeedingly muddy but Patrick seemed to enjoy the challenge.

With the posts firmly in place Caroline was able to start the wattling process. Using lengths of coppiced hazel and willow she carefully weaves between the wall posts.

Once the majority of the wattling was complete Patrick attached the wallplates to the top of the inner posts so that he could start adding the pine roof rafters.

After the roof rafters were added the next step was to fix the hazel battening on to the rafters.The thatch will be sewn on the battening with hemp twine.

Caroline needs to 'daub' the outside walls before Patrick starts to thatch. Here Caroline is putting the finishing touches to some interior daubing while her daughter, Iona, preares another area of wattle ready for the daub.

A milestone for Patrick, the job he loves- the thatching. Here he is dressing the thatch on the lower reaches of the roof. His intention is to take the thatch to about three quarters of its height all the way around and then complete the upper section in one go.

Patrick on the roof finishing the thatch and finally the finished Roundhouse with just a bit of daubing to do.This last picture was taken at the beginning of June 2009