• Saxon thanes (lords) and kings were very rich and powerful in the Dark Ages. They often lived in big wooden buildings known as 'Great Halls'.
• These were the equivalent of mansions or palaces today. They looked a bit like huge barns.
• They were built of big wooden beams. The walls were filled in with wattle & daub (wickerwork covered in mud and animal poo!). Later, extremely rich kings built them of stone.
• The roofs were thatched with reeds or straw; or covered in wooden shingles.
• A lord might have two great halls, one next to the other. Nearby were smaller houses for servants; and kitchens, workshops, mills and perhaps a chapel. There would be a big wooden wall around the lot, called a 'stockade'.
• Archaeologists have dug up famous palaces at Yeavering (in Northumberland) and Cheddar (in Somerset).
• King Edwin of Northumbria's palace at Yeavering had two great halls (see picture). Amongst other buildings, there was also a 'corral' for keeping cattle in and a grandstand in which to hold meetings. People lived there throughout the 7th century.
• King Alfred of Wessex's palace at Cheddar had one great hall. Amongst other buildings were a chapel and a donkey-powered mill. People lived there throughout the 9th and 10th centuries.

But what was it like inside a Great Hall?