Wychurst - the Village in the Wood

Alone of all re-enactment societies, Regia Anglorum owns a permanent site. Situated about sixty miles from central London and in a patch of secluded woodland near Canterbury in Kent, We are constructing a fortified manor house from the Late Anglo-Saxon period.

In the closing days of November 2003, we worked hard to complete the roof structure and to get it into a state where we felt easy leaving it for the winter gales to play with. We were very aware that the top half of the roof is now somewhat above treetop height and therefore more exposed than last winter.

Wychurst is a fortified English manor – properly, a Manorial Burgh. The ditch-and-bank encloses an acre, at the heart of which is the framework of our Longhall that, even in its uncompleted state, dominates the tree-girt enclosure and the sheer scale of the building just takes your breath away.

At the end of the summer ‘03, the main structure of this 20m×10m×10m building was completed and before the onset of winter, we had completed five-eighths of the roof.

It is an impressive sight and is probably the largest reconstructed early medieval building in the country. Built entirely of English oak, all of which has been harvested from trees growing in Kent, (many within a couple of miles of the site), the site in general and the Longhall in particular, has been conceived, planned, purchased, designed and constructed by our members. What you see is the result of many long hours of research, discussion and the practical application of skills with which our ancestors would have felt at home.

Please visit the new Wychurst development teams website at www.wychurst.com for more up to date information and pictures from the development team.

Last updated 2 April, 2006. Article by Kim Siddorn 2004. Click here to return to the societies main page or the listing. © Regia Anglorum 2004. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to e-mail us at webmaster@regia.org