This case is the simplest form of the Grubenhaus, with just two timber uprights on the long axis, one at each end. The excavator reports a double post hole at the south end and for the experimental reconstruction this is interpreted as a reinforcement for, or replacement of, an original single end post. The simplest interpretation of the evidence, that is a ridge beam supported by the two uprights, has been adopted in the reconstruction. From the beam common rafters of ash poles have been laid to ground level beyond the side edges of the pit and fixed at each side to a sill beam lying on the ground surface. This gives a basic tent-like structure over the pit, with the ridge beam 2.80m above ground lvel. A four- or six-post structure (with posts at the corners or at the corners and on the central axis) would allow the possibility of side walls above ground level; this is improbable in the two-post structure.
Debate over the interpretation of this type of structure has centred around the question of the presence or absence of a suspended floor above the pit. In this case, the excavator's observation of loom weights at the bottom of the pit suggests that there was no suspended floor, if the loom weights were stored in the rafters and fell to the bottom as the roof collapsed. Accordingly, the reconstruction does not use a suspended floor. This interpretation accords with the evidence but it is not absolutely conclusive: other explanations could be offered for the position of the loom weights; and the lack of any positive evidence for a suspended floor would only be significant if the original ground surface around the building had survived.
End walls are formed from horizontally placed oak planks pegged on to a triangular frame which fits inside the roof line, just beyond the edge of the pit. Each frame is strengthened with a vertical timber to the apex, another to each side and a collar near the top; the central vertical is pegged to the building's main structural support. There is no evidence for the position of entrance(s) to the structure; again, without the original ground surface, the entrance position is unlikely to be detected archaeologically unless there had been fittings within the pit associated with a ladder or other means of access. For this reconstruction, a single entrance has been placed in one end wall to the side of the main upright support. A door is made from oak planks and hinged on to the central upright of the triangular frame. A set of steps has been supplied for access into the pit and this leaves no marks of a sort which would be detected in the archaeological record. A side entrance would be possible, but with no walls from which to hang a door, a hole would have to be made in the lower part of the roof and some structure devised to keep off the rain.
The roof is thatched with heather fixed on to willow wattles which are tied to the rafters. No evidence survived of the original material; heather has been chosen because it is recorded as a roofing material in the vernacular tradition of Northumberland, where it was known as 'black thatch'. There is no evidence in the original archaeological reference case for any lining inside the pit. However, at Bede's World there has been waterlogging and erosion of the pit edges and so a lining of wattle has been provided. The original was on a freely-draining subsoil which is unlikely ever to have become waterlogged.
