Granaries

Granaries
Seeds for the future

The production of grain in Britain has always been prolific. The fertile chalk hills and vales of England have been the bread-bowl of Europe for thousands of years. As production levels increased it became profitable to sell grain to mainland Europe. By the Iron Age, Britain was feeding the Roman Empire. This meant that methods of storage had to be invented for storing the grain both for over winter, and in preparation for transportation.

There were two main ways of doing this.

Firstly, storage of grain above ground.

This was done in buildings with floors raised above ground level.
This serves two reasons.

Britain is not known for being dry. Damp ground under a building means damp produce in it.
A raised floor keeps vermin out. Both insects, and rodents. It is difficult to dig your way in if the floor is 2-3ft up in the air!

It is not known for sure whether the grain was stored in pots, or wooden bins, both work well, and both were capable of being maintained. This method of storage is used for daily consumption, where pots full of grain can be collected, parched (dried over the fire), and ground on querns to make flour for baking bread. It is also stored like this for trading, as access is quick and easy, and accumulation of a larger quantity can be over a period of time.

These granaries are reconstructions of an area inside Danebury hillfort

Here is a closer view to give you some idea of size and scale. The steps are removable and there is a door to close the entrance. This makes the granary very secure.

Secondly, storage of grain in the ground.

Seed grain needs to be stored long term, possibly for over a year. The most successful method seems to be in a storage pit in the ground. Experiments done at Butser Ancient Farm have shown the possible method used.

© Danebury Trust The pit is dug into the ground keeping the access hole as small as possible. As the pit is dug deeper it is widened out. Some pits are up to 6ft wide at the base. The depth of the pit varies from 6-15ft deep. Once the pit has been dug it can be used for storage of grain, which is poured in from the top. When the pit is full of grain, the hole at the top is sealed with a layer of clay. Care has to be taken to ensure that the clay overlaps the width of the hole and onto the surrounding ground by at least 1ft or more. The action of sealing the hole stops light, air, and water entering the pit from the top.

Then nature takes over
The grain that is touching the internal surface of the pit, picks up moisture from the ground. The grain that is moist then tries to germinate. As the grain germinates it needs oxygen. Because the pit is sealed there is a finite amount of oxygen available to the germinating grain. Also, as the grain grows it produces carbon-dioxide as waste product. The result is that the oxygen is used up, the carbon-dioxide permeates throughout the grain in the pit, and the whole lot goes into hibernation mode. Even if there is a large movement of ground water into the pit, the grain is safe as the conditions in the pit are what are known as 'anaerobic' and the grain will not rot because of the lack of oxygen.

In the spring when the grain is needed for seed, the clay is removed from the top of the pit, and the grain is removed from storage and sown into the newly ploughed fields.

The seeds that germinated against the pit surface have their roots and shoots all tangled together and can be peeled out, leaving the walls of the pit clean. These 'leftovers' can be used as animal feed and can be a useful protein boost to the breeding stock.