One of the most intriguing questions asked since the discovery of courtyard houses has been, ‘how was it roofed’? Only when there is a prospect of reconstructing one, can its practicality be taken into account. There are two possible methods of roofing these structures. The established interpretation is to leave an open courtyard in the centre of the dwelling.

Starting with Chysauster’s room 6d in Hut 6 one can examine how the posts would support the roof rafters. In Hut 6d the shape of this room is oval, therefore a typical conical roof would not be successful. There are, however, various examples of hipped roofs being built on oval post structures. The requirement for this type of roof is two internal support posts close to the ends of the building, as at Heuneburg and Appelshofen, Bavaria (Audouze & Buchsenschutz 1991:65).The two support posts could be placed on flat granite slabs for stability.

Once the rafters and thatch were added, it would be impossible, given the roof load bearing down on them, for them to move. If these two supports were large timbers with a natural fork at the correct height, the cross member could be slotted into them. Rafters would then be added across the two straight sides culminating in a fan shaped rafters at both ends. These rafters should be approx. 18"apart and have concentric circles of battens attached. The pitch of the roof would depend on the height of the two supporting posts. This interpretation is based on my own research and inspired by the German, House Urn from Konigsaue (Audouze & Buchsenschutz.1991 :82). This is a pottery house-urn, a model of a thatched house, shows a very steeply pitched roof approximately 55 degrees, which seems to indicate a much steeper roof pitch than has been used at research centres in this county. In view of this, at the Cornwall Celtic Village research centre we constructed a roundhouse having this roof pitch to test its durability. It was found that a roof with this 55 degree pitch appeared to be most efficient.

The skeleton roof structure is first constructed, followed by the thatching of the roof. Due the steep pitch of the roof the thatch does not need to be very thick to provide adequate cover from the elements. When a roof pitch is as steep, as 55 degrees, rain runs off too quickly to penetrate the thin thatching layer. In fact it is a positive disadvantage to thatch these structures in the conventional way, as where the roof usually has a pitch of 45 degrees, and a considerable thickness of thatch is required to stop rainwater from seeping through the roof. Builders of reconstructed prehistoric dwellings in this country have found, when using this conventional method of thatching, that dwellings become unbearably smoke filled, once a fire is lit in the hearth. On the other hand the smoke filters quite freely through the thinner thatch, providing a smoke-free environment for the occupants.