Have you ever wondered why Shepherd’s hut wheels are placed on the outside of the hut body?
A question we sometimes get asked is “Why are shepherd’s hut wheels outside of the hut body as opposed to the wheels being under the hut body?”
Shepherd’s huts traditionally have a smaller front wheel that are on the turning axle and larger wheels at the rear of the hut.
So okay, I’m going to go back in time to when shepherd’s huts were used for their original intended use as a dry, warm temporary place out in the fields. They provided shelter for farmers to stay whilst tending to their sheep. As the sheep were moved from field to field so did the shepherd’s hut. With this system now in your mind, think of the wet months and the thought of moving the shepherd’s hut on wet ground. Well, cleverly this was thought about by the early hut makers and their answer to this issue was to position the cast iron wheels in a way where the front wheels are slightly narrower and smaller than the back wheels, making it easier to turn the front axle on its turn table allowing the wheels to pass under the hut body as the hut turns. The back wheels were wider and larger than the front wheels as well as positioned further out at each side than the front wheels, so the front axle is narrower than the back axle, which means that when travelling on wet ground the back wheels won’t travel in the same rut that the front wheels have made thus making it harder for the shepherd’s hut to get stuck.
Clever!
Another idea, think of the hut travelling on unlevel ground, a sloped ground, the wheels on the outside of the hut makes the hut more stable when travelling.
History lesson over.
Nowadays, some hut companies have continued with this traditional design in their shepherd’s hut builds and some have placed both front and back wheels in line with each other. Some companies even place their hut wheels beneath the hut body. In today’s world, shepherd’s huts are being used for many different purposes than the old boys used them for: as resting places for farmers.
I don’t think the wheel position is too much of an issue but, I do think there is a desire by most to keep the traditional, aesthetically pleasing proportional origins of the original huts in today’s 21st century shepherd’s huts. Some hut designs require the wheels to be beneath the hut body such as the very wide huts for many reasons such as transporting purposes i.e. the width of the lorry trailer, causing issues with access when you get to the shepherd’s hut site.
So, I hope this little article explains the reasons why the wheels of a shepherd’s hut are placed on the outside of the hut body.