Iron Age Turf Roof

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium planted over a waterproofing membrane it may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems.

Iron age turf roof.

As a result all of the turf was scheduled to be replaced during 2002 2003. The discovery of ways to heat and forge iron kicked off the iron age roughly 1 300 b c. Updating an ancient tradition icelandic turf architecture has its roots in building techniques dating back to the iron age indeed the romans used turf bricks to build fortresses and defensive. These could be made of timber or stone with a roof covering of thatch or turf depending upon locally available building materials.

Like many icelandic villages houses here are roofed with turf a practice that developed in northern europe as early as the iron age. Chris and shona scatchard from caithness have spent the last few years experimenting with building roundhouses inspired by iron age examples using the materials available locally. The standard house was a roundhouse made of timber or stone with a thatch or turf roof. The iron age was a period in human history that started between 1200 b c.

And 600 b c depending on the region and followed the stone age and bronze age. At the time the metal was seen as more precious than gold and wrought iron which would be. The old turf roof and walls were being stripped off layer by layer using knives left a very messy and muddy job. The iron age in britain started around 800bc and finished in 43ad when the bronze age began.

These ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m. There have been many attempts to reconstruct iron age roundhouses by archaeology groups and other enthusiasts but. The people built walls made of either stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle and daub panels and topped with a conical thatched roof. In order to protect themselves and their livestock from the harsh climate the settlers constructed shelters using the trees to provide a framework and covering the frame with turf.

Chris has kindly put together this inspiring piece about his experiences. The house re construction was about 30 years old so the deterioration of the turf occurred more quickly than anticipated.