Edcott - The Anglo-Saxon Village at Escot: February 2011

Coming Events

Volunteer Days are during the first full weekend of most months (both Saturday and Sunday are in the new month) here at Escot Education, starting at 10am. If you would like to join us please let me know - 07814036634.

Family Activity Days - on each Sunday of our volunteer weekends we are offering the public the opportunity to 'have a go' at some of our craft activities. Grinding corn and then making bread in the earth oven was a very popular activity over the winter, as well as Matt's forging sessions with copper pendants as the final product. Richard demonstrated his considerable wood carving skills. Craft products are available for sale on these days.

School Activity Days - we can offer Anglo-Saxon experience days as well as the Forest School, Environmental Art and Science and Fun Days. Half, Full day or overnight camps are possible with the sessions tailored to your own individual needs and preferences. See the appropriate link on the Escot Education home page (link on the left of this page) or email or telephone Alan for further information.

There's lots more to do and not just heavy work

We have already planted a boundary hedge and fruit bushes, completed a splendid thatched sunken hut, workshop, chicken coop, small bread oven and a bodger's bothy; raised a gateway arch and shelter for the spring; created costumes and researched building techniques; woven sections of wattle fencing and investigated wild foodstuffs of the period.

There is still plenty to do including:

- daubing the new roundhouse

- milling flour for our open days and then baking bread

- making domestic and workshop tools and equipment

- blacksmithing

- thatching

- make charcoal for the forge

- splitting logs to feed the fires

- maintaining the herbs and planting a dye plant garden

- making and applying cob daub to more walls and structures

- spinning, weaving and dying wool and other yarns such as nettle

- sewing more costumes for living history days and school visits

- creating a photo album and preparing information packs and display boards

- chasing funding for materials and training expenses.

Why not visit us on the next Volunteer Weekend and see what we get up to? Ring Alan Bruford on 07814-036634 or email at abruford@hotmail.co.uk for dates and details.

9 Feb 2011

February 2011 Spring Clean

Early spring clean for the structures and garden, together with the construction of a new and larger bread oven beside the hand mill. The workshop floor was lowered to allow for more headroom now that the back wall has been lowered to allow a better angle to the roof for thatching. During January Richard and Marc have been working on a new chicken coop, the original looking rather battered. They investigated using heather as a roofing material and the results are rather splendid, with the site now having heather, brushwood and straw thatch roofs - experimental archaeology in action.
Volunteers enthusiastically threw themselves into making cob for the oven and to decorate the slimmed down mill base - Aimee, Knowle, Marc, Skip, Charlie, George,Dom, Nat, Polly,and Aleric. Jill, Phillipa, Zsuzsi, Nick, Aleric, Suki and Megan set-to to prepare the vegetable plot for the new growing season. Chris kindly undertook repairs to the forge bellows. Ann continued on making tunics in the warmth of the ger. Aleric enthusiastically investigated skinning and dissecting the grey squirrels culled by Escot Estate to clear the way for the reintroduction of Red Squirrels on the estate land. Richard assisted volunteers with their pole lathing aspirations as well as, with Nick, fine tuning the ins'tree'ment. Mary and Vix kept the young occupied - no mean task. Faye made a spoon and bowl from start to finish over the weekend as well as assisting with general building work. Many thanks to all for their efforts.

How we began...Anglo-Saxon Wood Wrighting Workshop- Nov 2007

We had a great weekend with Damian Goodburn from the Museum of London in November 2007 which kick-started the Edcott site. Discussions on appropriate building styles and techniques led on to designing and the first tentative steps in building our first Anglo-Saxon family dwelling, axes being wielded to great effect.

These skills have now resulted in our thatched sunken hut, complete with internal fire. A new cob bread oven was finished during our May 2008 weekend.
Further workshops have been run on a variety of topics - ring to let us know if you want to be involved.