Courtyard houses are generally situated along ridges on moorland, on the north coast of West Penwith. The topography is bleak, with the prevailing wind from the west, the first land reached by the Atlantic Gales. Therefore, the direction of the wind would have been considered when building a dwelling. All the known courtyard house sites in West Penwith were examined with a view to establishing in which the direction of the main courtyard doors were set. Of 53 known courtyard house sites, 11 faced directly South, 14 South East, 14 East and 6 North East. Altogether 45 were sites faced away from the prevailing wind. Only 2 sites faced West, 3 South West and 3 North West ( Fig 6). The 3 North West sites had some form of shelter from the wind, either a house directly in front of them or in a sheltered valley. This is compelling evidence, that the orientation of the courtyard doors took into account prevailing winds.
Hut 6 at Chysauster provides an important clue to the type of roof structure employed, due to the raised floor in room 6a. The inspiration for writing this paper came from some experimental work carried out in the summer of 1994 at Chysauster. English Heritage decided that a temporary thatched roof should be added to Hut 6 at Chysauster, for an Ancient Technology project it was funding for school children (see Fig 7 ).To give the children a better impression of the appearances houses might have had in antiquity. The room chosen for this purpose was room 6a.. It was my task to supervise this work. A simple conical roof was erected from local timber and water reeds from the nearby marsh at Marazion. The ensuing event was a great success with the reed thatched roof helping to recreate the atmosphere of a Romano-British settlement. However, on the last day of the event, a strong wind blew from the west, as is usual in this area. A fire had been made in hut 6a, to experiment with ancient cooking techniques etc. Due to this strong westerly, it became increasingly difficult to keep the temporary door covering in place. Whenever anyone came in from the outside, the wind blasted all those within, making the central fire flare fiercely, as the doorway faced directly into the wind. Coupled with the fact that the room had a raised floor, it made the wind problem insurmountable. Due to the elevated position of the floor the surrounding walls of the courtyard gave no protection from the wind.
Fig. 7
If the courtyard had been roofed in the accepted way with an open courtyard, due to the elevated floor in this room, there would be nothing to stop the wind from entering this part of Hut 6. In addition because of the elevation of room 6a, the roofs on the other side of the courtyard, would not have helped to break it. The survey of courtyard door orientations indicate that they are all with just a few exceptions face away from the prevailing wind. I suggest that the entire structure was roofed, and that the courtyard was a central hall, with rooms leading off it. Their outer doors would be courtyard doors, with but a few exceptions, all facing away from the prevailing wind. Looking again at the Room 6a it is clear that it is irrelevant that it is facing west, as it would have been an interior door, with the raised floor facing west particularly draft free, when the outer east facing doors were opened.
It might be argued that this large roof would be too large to construct. However, surveys of prehistoric structures in Europe indicate such sizes are not at all uncommon, with diameters of 49’ to 52’ known (Audouze & Buchsenchutz 1991 : 74). There is also an interesting comparison with house sizes particularly oval houses, relevant here, for example roofing the house at Trethurgy, St Austell (see Fig 8). The structure at Trethugy is dated at the same Romano British period as Chysauster, is 13 metres by 9 metres diameter. As clear from the site plan, that the post supports were integrated with the top of its inner walls.
Fig. 8
"From the Neolithic Period buildings were erected in Orkneys and Shetland Islands that were oval, circular or trefoil-shaped, whose plan was conditioned by the use of very thick (2-3m) dry stone walls faced on both sides. Some internal posts in an irregular ring supported a roof which rested for the most part on the walls."(Audouze & Buchsenchutz 1991 :74)
This type of roof, however, would need the support of a substantial ring beam, to acquire the necessary height, to pitch the rafters at the right angle. The posts of this ring beam would have to be placed on top of the walls surrounding the central hall. The purpose for the substantial infill of the walls would now come into its own ( diagram Fig 9 ). There could have been another shorter ring of posts to create another ring beam nearer to the outer walls, adding stability to the roof. Looking at the structure from this viewpoint another possible use for the large infills becomes evident. The large flat areas at the top of the walls could be covered with timbers to create another well supported floor. The Ariel photograph of Hut 6 and Hut 4 at Chysauster (Fig 10) demonstrates just how large the infilled areas are between the inner and outer walls relative to the size of the rooms within. The dwelling space in an house of this type could, be almost doubled.
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
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