The building illustrated here is based on one excavated at Thirlings, near Wooler in Northumberland. It was the central building of a cluster group which was built in the 6th century AD. This was possibly the residence of a local landowner. It has a spacious, open-plan interior.
A distinctive type of building in Anglo-Saxon England is the pit-type house. This is a simple structure raised over a pit excavated into the ground. This example is based on one excavated at New Bewick, about 10 miles south of Wooler, in Northumberland.
This building is based on one found in excavations at Hartlepool within the area of the monastery which was founded in the 7th century. The monks and nuns who lived in this monastery lived and worked in small cells such as this. This monastery was for a time under the rule of Abbess Hild.
The web site includes a review of the experimental building project in which the design of the buildings is discussed in relation to the archaeological evidence.
