Building a longhouse in Norsewood

An example of the Longhouse Jamie Hughes wants to build in Mathews Park, although not quite the same scale. Photo / Supplied

Jamie Hughes originally wanted to build a replica of a Viking village on his Norsewood property.

That had since evolved into the idea to design and build something the whole community could be a part of.

Now his project to build a Viking-style Longhouse on Mathews Park in Norsewood has been kicked off with crowdfunding.

And already he's had generous offers, including some from Norway.

Jamie Hughes at the weekend's Norway Day has been one of the organisers of the Viking Festival every year. Photo / Leanne Warr

Hughes, who organised the Viking Festival with Eva Renbjor, got the idea three years ago.

Then last year, the Hovding Hall had to be closed to the public due to structural issues.

"Because we lost Hovding Hall recently, we have no real meeting hall anymore. It would be good to replace it with something."

Inside the Longhouse where community events and festivities could be held. Photo / Supplied

A Longhouse in Viking times was where the chief of the village or the king of the province lived, Hughes said.

"It was the main building in any village and where festivals were held."

He said it was very like a mediaeval castle, only in Viking style.

"The idea here is to build one with the same principle, where it'll be a community gathering point."

While it would become part of the Viking Festival, it would also be available to other groups.

Hughes said they had been looking to build the Longhouse for a while.

"We've spoken to council about it and it's been on the cards for a while but it's never really got off the ground because no one's known where to go or where to start."

He wasn't sure what the cost would be, but estimated it would be at least $200,000, "potentially more".

He said because it was intended to be a public building, they would have to meet building codes and codes of compliance as well as health and safety standards.

"My first thing would be to raise enough money to go to an engineer and an architect and get a design made, look at the cost and try to raise the funds to do so."

His original idea to build a replica Viking village was based off a similar one in Gudvangen in Norway.

Jamie Hughes has his own blacksmith shop in Norsewood. Photo / Dave Murdoch

Hughes, who owned a blacksmith shop modelled from one in Norway, said he had wanted to create a live-in village for people to visit.

"That's evolved into a need for a community hall, instead of me doing it myself, it would be a perfect opportunity for the entire community to benefit and get behind and replace our hall."

He also wanted to form a sistership with the town and had been talking with both the embassy and Tararua District Council Mayor Tracey Collis about the idea.

Hughes said he had already had a great response to the crowdfunding and offers from the community, including a lumber shop which had told him if he were to get trees or timber donated, they would do the milling.

He said people in Norway had also offered to come and help build it.

Some of those offers had come from a town called Stiklestad, which he said was on record as the place where the Viking era came to an end in 1030.

"St Olaf, who was the king of christianised Norway, there's a thing called the battle of Stiklestad, and that's where he fell, he was slain on the battlefields.

"They built a museum on the site, there's a Longhouse and there's another entire Viking settlement village and the people that hand-built this have offered to come down here and help out build our stuff."

Hughes wasn't surprised by the offers of help.

"I've been back here in Norsewood about three years, so I'm quite used to the locals and it's just the way they operate. It doesn't come as a big surprise to me because that's just the way our community is out here."

It was hoped the Longhouse would attract a few tourists to the little settlement.

Norsewood already had a few sites including Johanna's World, which was a memorial park with a log house and a Stave church, the Settlers' Museum and NZ Natural Clothing.

Hughes has set up a Givealittle page at: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/build-nzs-first-longhouse.