The Roundhouse
This is placed in the car-park rather than in the roundhouse compound. It is not near the hedge either. You are looking for a film pot.
Hadleigh Country Park gets lies between South Benfleet, to the West, and Leigh, to the East. The park consists of a mix of scrub, woodland and grassland hillside running down to grazing marsh and seawall, which is adjacent to a narrow strip of salt marsh. This wide range of habitat provides many places for plants and animals to live. In summer this is one of the best places in Essex to see butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies.
The rangers tell me that the best place to park is in the main car-park; (N 51° 33•131 E00° 35•724), however, this is £2.50 per hour. The car-park shuts at various times so please check beforehand. Give a wave to the rangers as they know what you are doing, but don't ask as they are not to help. Huge thanks to my Pal Alfarrow who gifted this fine cache to me as he now lives in Sandringham next door to his relations.
This iron-age roundhouse is similar to those of 2000 yrs. ago and lived in when Boudicca, wife of Prasutages, took on the Romans apparently yelling “that they are hares and foxes trying to rule dogs and wolves; a contemptible lot, with their warm baths and unguents” (there is more but this a family site). The Trinovantes of Essex joined in the revolt to drive the Romans north.
This house is a representation of one that a chieftain would have live in, and it would have been used as a meeting place for the tribe. Iron Age pottery has been found close by.
The shopping list for this one comprises:-
12 tonnes of locally sourced timber
45 straight 11m lengths for the rafters
22 tonnes of daub
1000 lengths of hazel
4 Km of sisal rope to tie 1200 square lashes
1000 bunches of reeds
It is to be mainly used by school groups participating in a living history program.