CHARCOAL BURNERS IN EPPING FOREST. 69
prehistoric hut still in use, if only as a temporary dwelling,
almost within the boundaries of the Metropolis.
The hut is, however, not without some modifications due
to modern conditions of life. Chief among these is the use of
iron nails in fitting together the framework of the structure, and
the addition of a modern door swung upon iron hinges. This
latter anachronism is probably a very recent innovation, and is
not always present. In the Victoria History of Essex, already
quoted, there is a reproduction of a photograph by Mr. Miller
Christy, showing one of these huts of the charcoal burners in
the Writtle Highwoods. This is not furnished with a modern
door, but the entrance is closed with a contrivance as primitive
as the rest of the structure. It is also smaller in size.
I took a number of photographs of the Epping Forest hut,
showing different views of both the framework and the finished
structure. I also made measured drawings of the plan and
elevation. One of these photographs has been reproduced in
Nature Notes, the organ of the Selborne Society, for June 1909;
while others are used in illustration of the present paper.
As these photographs show, the hut was conical and
covered with sods of turf cut from inside and round the structure.
It was twelve feet in diameter inside, while the outer slope from
the top to the ground level measured from eleven to twelve feet.
The frame work was constructed with twelve poles, which were
simply sapling stems, about four inches in diameter at the lower
end, and with the side branches trimmed off. These poles were
placed round in a circle (the distances between them varying
from twenty-six to forty inches), leaning inwards, and meeting
together at about eighteen inches from their tops. At the
meeting point, they were all bound firmly together. The main
poles were then further fastened together by three or four cross-
bearers, between each two poles, while the spaces between them
were filled in with a number of smaller pieces, of from
one-and-a-half to two inches in diameter, resting on the
cross-bearers. The whole was then covered with sods of turf
with the grass sides turned inwards, and overlapping each other
like the tiles of a roof. There were fifteen to sixteen courses of
sods to the top.
Inside the hut were two roughly-formed beds, .for the men
to rest upon, with a gangway about three feet wide between