Viking Longhouse: Size, Interior and Materials

Picture a long, dim hall that smells of woodsmoke and livestock, with a fire snapping down the middle, three generations on the benches, and the cows lowing at the far end. That was the Viking longhouse, the heart of Norse farm life. It was built for families and feasts alike, and a traveler at the door could usually expect shelter and hospitality.

What Did a Viking Longhouse Look Like?

Longhouses were typically 15 to 25 feet (about 5 to 8 meters) wide and anywhere from about 50 to 250 feet (15 to 75 meters) long, and a great chieftain’s hall could run even longer. The hall excavated at Borg in Lofoten, Norway, was 272 feet (83 meters) long, the largest Viking Age house yet found. Many had gently bowed walls, wider in the middle than at the ends. Size signaled status: a bigger house meant more people, more guests, and more livestock to feed.

Inside the Longhouse

Two rows of wooden beams ran down each side of the house to support the roof and divide the building into three sections. Many longhouses had a central firepit with benches where people could sleep. There were no windows, so the fire and torches placed along the central corridor of the house provided light. Smoke would escape through vents, the thatch of the roof, and a hole in the roof over the fire pit.

Lofts at each end of the building served as storage areas. Individuals could also store items beneath their bed-benches. In a byre-house, the animals lived under the same roof, in stalls at one end, and their warmth helped heat the hall through the winter.

Viking Longhouse Construction Materials

Because Vikings explored and settled areas from North America to Russia, they had to build their homes from materials that were available. Where forests were plentiful, they built using wood. In places where wood was not readily available, such as Iceland and Greenland, Vikings built turf houses. Vikings made walls from planks, wattle and daub, or clay. Roofs could be made of thatch, turf, or wood. The same skills built their longships. The great halls at Hune and Trelleborg in Denmark show how far a tenth-century builder could push them.

Asgard Alaska’s Longhouse

At Asgard Alaska, we will construct our longhouse as closely to an original longhouse as possible, while still following modern building codes and adding in some modern amenities. We envision that it will be a great place for groups to have a unique event – Yule parties, birthdays, and reunions are a few of the possible events we could host. The museum is not open yet. We are raising the Land Fund to buy the site, Phase 1 of our Roadmap.

Have you built a longhouse, or do you know timber framing, turf, or thatch? We’d love to hear from you. When we have land, we’ll be looking for experienced hands to help us build one.

Keep reading: walk through living longhouses at Viking Valley and Njardarheimr in Norway.