A  Iron Age roundhouse built at Hengistbury Head will be completed in time for summer. 

Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre (HHVC) has said its Iron Age roundhouse, designed to replicate one that occupied the area 2,000 years ago, will be ready for the summer. 

Funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund, the roundhouse is adjacent to the visitor centre and work began in October 2023.

Curator and visitor services officer, Dr. Hayden Scott-Pratt, 29, said: "Hengistbury Head is an internationally important monument and it has over 12 and a half thousand years of continuous human history from palaeolithic all the way to the Iron Age which is unique within Britain as a whole.

"It's a wonderful project and its grown so well from 2019 that's been built by the volunteers who are all local people who help us run craft events for the public and it allows us to do our duty as a museum to bring heritage to the local people."

Not knowing all the tools used during the time period, the roundhouse was constructed to be as similar as possible to how it would have been in the Iron Age.

Using hand tools, volunteers have spent months labouring over the hut so it is ready to be used for educational purposes this summer.

Mr Scott-Pratt said: "We've used hand tools, lots of rope, hammers, axes, saws and all the joinery has been done using oak leggings and lashings so it's been done very authentically. 

"It'll be really nice for us to have an outdoor educational space that school groups can use."

HHVC has 120 schools visit the centre yearly for its geographical, historical and ecological importance. 

Looking towards the general public also, Hayden hopes to make a 'robust' program of events in the roundhouse to be used for different things such as scout meetings. 

He said: "I'm desperate to see it used and incorporated into the local community. If people want to come and do their meetings, such as scout groups or local schools, come along and use it."

Visitors can see the near-finished roundhouse at a mixed craft day on April 20 or on an iron age walk on May 18.