The "House of Wessex", an Anglo-Saxon hall reconstruction at the Sylva Foundation Wood Centre in Long Wittenham, was opened on 21st October 2019.
As members heard from the Project Manager, Lesley Best, at the SCLHS meeting in June, the hall built at Long Wittenham is a copy, using authentic methods and materials, of an original excavated on the same site in 2016.
The complex was identified by aerial photography in 1976 in an area important in the early Anglo-Saxon era. Long Wittenham is known for its high-status cemeteries and the old Roman town across the Thames at Dorchester was given to St. Birinus for him to found his cathedral there after he had preached to the Kings of Wessex (or Gewissae) locally.
The dig found that one possible building was actually a late Roman ditched enclosure, but another was a 40ft by 12ft post-in-trench timber Anglo-Saxon hall. No artefacts have so far been discovered, but an animal bone has been dated to the early to mid-7th century.
The form and construction style of the building are very similar to somewhat larger 7th century Anglo-Saxon halls discovered elsewhere: most famously at Yeavering in Northumberland, but also near Sutton Courtenay. These are understood to be royal feasting halls (and Yeavering is certainly recorded as such).
The Long Wittenham building is about half the size, but much bigger than an ordinary farmhouse. It is thought, therefore, to have been a royal hall used for only short visits by the Kings of Wessex.
During the open-day, some members of the Wulfheodenas (an Anglo-Saxon re-enactment group) were on hand to present traditional Anglo-Saxon dress, crafts and activities.
An official opening ceremony has since been held on 24th November, officiated by the Countess of Wessex (see report from BBC Oxford on 28th November 2019).
The Society wishes to thank the owners of the Royal Berkshire History + website for their permission to use the photographs and some of the material for this article.
