Aroundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, usually with a conical roof. In the later part of the 20th century, modern designs of roundhouse eco-buildings were constructed with materials such ascob,cordwood orstraw bale walls andreciprocal framegreen roofs.
Roundhouses were the standard form of housing built in Britain and Ireland from theBronze Age throughout theIron Age, and in some areas well into theSub Roman period. The people built walls made of either stone or of wooden posts joined bywattle-and-daub panels, and topped with a conicalthatched roof. These ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m. TheAtlantic roundhouse,Broch, andWheelhouse styles were used in Scotland. The remains of many Bronze Age roundhouses can still be found scattered across open heathland, such asDartmoor, as stone 'hut circles'.
Early archeologists determined what they believed were the characteristics of such structures by the layout of the postholes, although a few timbers were found preserved in bogs. The rest has been postulated byexperimental archaeology, which has tried different techniques to demonstrate the most likely form and function of the buildings. For example, experiments have shown that a conical roof with a pitch of about 45 degrees would have been the strongest and most efficient design. According toPeter J. Reynolds fire would have been lit inside for heating and cooking, there could not have been a smoke hole in the apex of the roof, for this would have caused an updraft that would have rapidly set fire to the thatch. Instead, smoke would have been allowed to accumulate harmlessly inside the roof space, and slowly leak out through the thatch.[1]
Many modern simulations of roundhouses have been built, including:
| Image | Name | Town | County | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Barbury Castle | Swindon | Wiltshire | England | (destroyed by fire) |
| Beeston Bronze Age Roundhouse | Beeston Castle | Cheshire | England | Built 2019 | |
 | Bodrifty Iron Age Settlement | Cornwall | England | ||
 | Bostadh Iron Age settlement | Great Bernera | Outer Hebrides | Scotland | Built 1999 |
| Brigantium Archeological Centre | High Rochester | Northumberland | England | Now Dismantled | |
 | Butser Ancient Farm | Hampshire | England | ||
 | Cae Mabon | Wales | |||
 | Castell Henllys | Pembrokeshire | Wales | ||
| Cockley Cley, | nearSwaffham | Norfolk | England | ||
 | Flag Fen | nearPeterborough | England | ||
| Mellor roundhouse reconstruction | Greater Manchester | England | |||
 | Peat Moors Centre | Somerset | England | Closed to the public 31 October 2008 | |
 | Ryedale Folk Museum | nearPickering | North Yorkshire | England | |
 | St. Fagans museum, Wales. | South Glamorgan | Wales | The museum exhibition open for 20 years and was based on roundhouses inConderton, Worcestershire.[2] | |
.jpg) | St Fagans National History Museum | South Glamorgan | Wales | New exhibition opened in 2016.[3] | |
| Scottish Crannog Centre | Loch Tay | Perthshire | Scotland | Roundhouse reconstruction on aman made island (destroyed by fire in 2021[4]). A replacement Iron Age village including a roundhouse has been built since. |
 | Stonehenge Visitor Centre Neolithic roundhouses | Wiltshire | England | ||
| Tatton Iron Age roundhouse and pit | Cheshire | England | |||
 | Llynnon Mill, Llanddeusant | Anglesey | Wales |
Much of the earlier supposition was confirmed or denied at a stroke by the finding of a set of Bronze Age roundhouses at the archaeological dig atMust Farm in Cambridgeshire, UK, where samples of all the materials, from posts to walls, to roof were all found, collapsed and charred, but still in situ after 3,000 years.
That Roundhouse is an early example of a modern roundhouse dwelling which was built inPembrokeshire Coast National Park,Wales without planning permission as part of theBrithdir Mawr village which was discovered by the authorities in 1998.[5] It is constructed from a wooden frame of hand-cutDouglas Fir forest thinnings with cordwood infill, and reciprocal frame turf roof based onpermaculture principles mainly from local natural resources. It was subject to a lengthy planning battle including a court injunction to force its demolition before finally receiving planning approval for 3 years in September 2008.[6]
Irishcrannógs were roundhouses typically built on anartificial island in a lake, bog, or estuary. Reconstuctions of crannógs can be seen inCraggaunowen, theIrish National Heritage Park, and inWexford, Ireland.
Trulli (singular: trullo) are houses with conical roofs, and sometimes circular walls, found in parts of the southern Italian region ofApulia.
Apalloza is a traditionalthatched house as found in Leonese county ofEl Bierzo,Serra dos Ancares inGalicia, and south-west ofAsturias; corresponding toAstur tribes area, one of pre Hispano-Celtic inhabitants of northwest Hispania. It is circular or oval, and about ten or twenty metres in diameter and is built to withstand severe winter weather at a typical altitude of 1,200 metres.
The main structure is stone, and is divided internally into separate areas for the family and their animals, with separate entrances. The roof is conical, made from rye straw on a wooden frame. There is no chimney, the smoke from the kitchen fire seeps out through the thatch.
As well as living space for humans and animals, a palloza has its own bread oven, workshops for wood, metal and leather work, and a loom. Only the eldest couple of an extended family had their own bedroom, which they shared with the youngest children. The rest of the family slept in the hay loft, in the roof space.
TheTaganrog Round House is a residential apartment building inTaganrog,Rostov and was the first round house built in theUSSR. The building is a modern round house built in 1929 and inhabited on 7 November 1932. The shared toilet was outside the house, about 20 meters from it.[7] Plumbing and sewerage were equipped in the apartments of the house only in the early 1960s. By the 80th anniversary of the round house in October 2012, major repairs were carried out, and the anniversary itself was marked by a celebration held in the courtyard by the tenants of the house.[8]
Roundhouses were a common form of architecture in someNative American Tribes. Traditional roundhouses were often used for ceremonies "and provided a large work area during inclement weather."[9] The Chaw Se' Roundhouse in California'sIndian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is designated with state historical marker #1001.[10]
Modern roundhouses are being built such as the one atDancing Rabbit Ecovillage near Rutledge, Missouri, built ofcob.[11]
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Roundhouses are still in use byIndigenous peoples in Brazil, including large communalShabono.
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TheAfrican round hut is still in use.
Raun Haus roundhouses are still in use inPapua New Guinea and are very similar to the ones built in western Europe.[12]
TheIgloo is a temporary roundhouse built from ice.
