Eagle House School is a mixed prep school catering for children from age 3 to 13 years and is located in Crowthorne, Berkshire, UK.

In 1998, following a workshop on Tudor House construction techniques given by a group of architects, the pupils made a huge model of the Globe Theatre. Subsequently, a visit to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton was made at which original buildings from medieval times were seen. Had these buildings not been under threat from modern developers, they would still be standing today on their original sites.

From the interest generated, Roger Jones, the Design and Technology teacher saw a unique opportunity for the children to experience at first hand this ancient technology. Roger’s inspirational concept was to produce a building that could out live the school itself and it would be refreshing for the children to realize how relevant the hands-on, environmentally friendly old ways still are.

The initial design of the house was for a two-storey building with projecting jetty but this was not acceptable to the local Planning Authority and a second proposal was submitted. This was eventually agreed with the Local Authority although the process took some two years – such is bureaucracy . From this date on, it was all systems go. By summer 2000, the foundations were in place, the timber sourced and collected.

Hartwood Oak Buildings near Newbury were a great help sourcing the oak for the build. They are a small company specializing in green wood framed construction and gave lots of advice and hands on help.

The house itself is 8 metres x 4 metres and has been built using green oak throughout, constructed by traditional methods such as might have been used by medieval craftsmen of the time. Wattle and daub has been fitted within the wall panels and is an interesting technique, albeit painful on the fingers!

At this point, it was realised that the children’s participation with the project would necessarily be limited and Roger approached numerous interested parents to help with the main construction of the house. Eventually, a team of nine fathers were recruited and thus the ‘Eagle House Bodgers Club’ was formed.

Every weekend, come rain, snow or sunshine, these intrepid amateur ‘chippies’ worked hard to produce a work of art. All of the joints were hand cut and assembled as flat frames. Totally, there has been approximately seven tons of solid oak to move around and it seems that, certainly in the early stages, the ‘Bodgers’ were taking the oak beams out from the store, erecting them in order to take the work a stage further, then at the end of the session, dismantle to put them back into store until the following week.

All five frames, i.e. front, back and three ‘cruck’ frames were all set out on the ground during the construction process and a certain amount of head scratching took place when some of the more intricate joints had to be thought through.

Meanwhile, a suggestion was made to contact the Prince’s Trust about the Tudor House. A letter was sent in which the project was described, the involvement of the children, the expert guidance given by Roger Jones to his ‘amateur’ bodgers and the fact that Roger would be retiring at the end of the summer term. The initial request was that possibly Prince Charles would be sufficiently interested enough to officially open the Tudor House.

After a somewhat lengthy period during which time nothing was heard, a telephone call was received from St. James’ Palace proclaiming interest in the Tudor House. Excitement grew as the conversation continued. The Prince would like to donate some funding and would indeed like to come and open the House if his diary permitted; his office was to pursue this course “with utmost vigour”.

Just to make sure that we weren’t making a shed out of 4 x 2, a Trustee of the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment came to the school one Saturday morning when the Bodgers were working and was instantly hooked. He said he would report back to His Royal Highness recommending support for the Tudor House. There after followed a visit to St. James’ Palace to discuss details. The second hand tiles that were going to form the roof were ditched – the Trust Foundation would prefer the roof to be thatched. The floor to be laid with reclaimed floor bricks and lastly, they would like to see the house in a landscaped Tudor Garden. In all aspects they would do their utmost to provide expertise to help the project along.

It is impossible to express adequate thanks to His Royal Highness and the Princes Trust for their support, their donation and enthusiasm, both for the building of the house and the proceedings on Opening Day.

The final stages of the Tudor House construction were manic and frustrating, but equally exciting and hugely satisfying.

On 10 th May 2003 the first of the cruck frames were raised on the site by the pond in the woodland setting. This was a tremendous moment. The timbers looked so right and over two days the whole frame was up. It was inspirational.

The wattle and daub stage was unexpectedly very hard work and the drab appearance of the black clay was disappointing. But, the moment the lime plaster was applied, the colours immediately complemented the timbers and the effect was stunning.

The final days before the Opening were a blur, but the day came and incredibly everything was complete. What an incredible finish to the whole madcap project and thanks must go to Prince Charles for his gracious attendance on the day.

For the Bodgers , it has been an incredible learning curve and we have learnt an awful lot. Some minor mistakes were made during the construction – but no one knows where they are except the Bodgers and they are not telling anyone!

Finally, thanks must go to Roger Jones who is now enjoying his retirement with wife Liz in France. The Tudor House was his project and would never have reached fruition without the help of his assistant Richard Trenholme and, of course, the Bodgers.

The House itself provides a much-valued resource for Eagle House School giving added significance to history lessons.

The Bodgers are still involved and are currently making items of Tudor style furniture. This, together with general maintenance of the House will keep us involved for some time to come.

Visits to the Tudor House are most welcome. To make an appointment do email Douglas Buchanan.

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