Building A from Thirlings was chosen for the experimental (re)construction in our Gyrwe farm at Jarrow.
The excavated building had two trenches, almost a metre deep, on each side where upright posts were placed. Archaeologists identified traces of 31 of these timbers, and planks made up the walls of the building between these supports. This formed a slightly irregular rectangle, ca. 12.16 x 6.20m, with pairs of doors on the long sides of the building. One of the doorpost timbers was radiocarbon dated to between the mid-sixth and mid-seventh centuries CE.
Inside the structure there were 6 other post holes, shallower than the external ones. There were also 9 pits in the buildings, split between the western and eastern walls. Another oval pit was thought to have been dug later. 20 pits were also found in two rows outside the long walls of the structure to the north and south.
The site had been ploughed and unfortunately more superficial features were destroyed. This means that there was no archaeological evidence of the floor of the buildings or the possible location of hearths.
