Building Blocks
Leaves start to stretch, reaching out to the sun, the little tree starts to grow…
As we begin to grow into our new home at Dalerb we have had to think about where the materials we will be building with come from. Part of our aim in construction the Iron Age Village at Dalerb is to use materials that would have been available in the Iron Age and where possible try to source them from within walking or loch distance, mirroring the actions of those who lived Lochside 2500 years.
The first, and most abundant material, is timber. This has been sourced from Drummond hill, just across the road from Dalerb. This will be used in all the buildings in some form or another, with the Crannog needing over 900 timbers alone. Next, we will use stone for the walls that will be used in the roundhouse, and this has been sourced from Taymouth Estaste in Kenmore. We will also be using turf in some of our buildings for walls and roofing, and we will be sourcing some of this from the where the new carpark will be.
Another resource we will need to build the roundhouse are hazel rods that will make up the roof framing. With thousands of rods needed it is important that we have a sustainable supply as over the next few years maintenance will need to be carried out on the buildings. Lastly, the earliest material we were able to source was reed from Errol that will be used as thatching material for the roofs. This is an example where when the material can’t be found from around the loch, as it is no longer available, we look further afield.
Each of these materials will help us to build our Iron Age village, roundhouse, and Crannog. While we will need a lot to get things started with, we will also have to think about how we can continue to get these materials in the future. By be creating and maintaining our own coppice sites close to Dalerb we will make the first step towards sustainable building material for the village.
