Volunteering at The Riverside Project

Become A Volunteer

In order to progress the project we are looking for people from all walks of life to join our growing team. As part of the team the project offers volunteers opportunities to join our woodworking courses and the Exmoor Bodgers Group (affiliated to the Association of Pole Lathe Turners and Green Wood Workers).

We also offer you the opportunity to sponsor one of our animals here at the project.

POST TRACK

Our interpretation of a post track is taken from one on the Somerset levels which was built on the location of the Sweet Track in 3838 BC and is the oldest trackway known from the UK. It may have lasted the 32 years until the Sweet Track was built, but repairs were only made to the latter for less than 10 years, after which it seems to have been abandoned.

Other simpler tracks were made of dumps of brushwood laid along the line of the route and pegged in place by small stakes. These were the most common form of trackway built to cross the bog. In the later Bronze Age, between 1400BC and 800BC, the raised bog surface became much wetter, possibly as a result of climate change, and more substantial trackways had to be built.

The most impressive of these was the Meare Heath Track that was made from large oak planks laid on top of dumps of brushwood and transverse planks that operated like railway sleepers. A replica can be seen at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve.