Reviewed by Daniel M. · Last Updated September 22, 2026 · How we review
The Dartington Long Deep Hive is a British design built around a single engineering problem: how do you keep bees somewhere with no room for a ground-level apiary, without ever lifting more than about 16 pounds. Robin Dartington, a professional engineer, designed it from that constraint outward in 1975, after running into exactly that problem keeping bees on the roof of a five-storey London house. This guide covers how the hive is built, why its dimensions are what they are, and who it genuinely suits.
Key Takeaways
- Robin Dartington, a professional engineer, designed the Long Deep Hive in 1975 specifically for garden and rooftop beekeeping, not commercial or migratory use.
- The design started from ergonomics: no single lift in normal hive manipulation should exceed roughly 16 lbs (8 kg), which is why the brood chamber is long and shallow rather than stacked in heavy boxes.
- The brood chamber holds 21 British National 14×12 frames (14 in wide by 12 in deep) in a single horizontal box, with insulated dummy boards at each end.
- The hive body sits on long legs at a comfortable standing working height, and supports four or more honey supers stacked above the brood chamber, not beside it.
- Because it uses standard National 14×12 frame dimensions, a Dartington hive can share frames and foundation with British National equipment, unlike a Layens or Kenyan top-bar hive.
- It is a home-buildable design using ordinary plywood and basic tools, documented in Dartington’s own books rather than sold widely as a manufactured product.
Table of Contents
- Who Designed the Dartington Hive, and Why
- The Ergonomic Design Principle
- Dimensions and Frame Compatibility
- How the Honey Supers Work
- Building a Dartington Hive
- Managing a Dartington Hive
- Community, Books, and Where to Get Help
- Dartington vs Other Horizontal and Long Hives
- Real Limits of the Design
- Frequently Asked Questions
Who Designed the Dartington Hive, and Why
Robin Dartington built his first Long Deep hives around 1975 to solve a specific, personal problem: keeping bees on the roof of a five-storey house in London, where a stack of heavy Langstroth or National supers was impractical and unsafe to manage. As a professional engineer rather than a career beekeeper, he approached the redesign from first principles, starting with the ergonomics and safety of lifting weights rather than from existing hive convention. He documented the design and its reasoning in his book New Beekeeping in a Long Deep Hive, later followed by a construction-focused companion volume, both still sold through specialist beekeeping publishers. First-hand accounts of building and running the hive are also documented on beekeeping forums such as this Beesource thread on the Dartington Long Deep Hive.
The Ergonomic Design Principle
The hive’s defining constraint is weight, not honey yield or natural comb philosophy the way a Warré or top-bar hive is framed. Dartington set a hard ceiling: no normal honey-box manipulation should ever require lifting more than about 16 lbs (8 kg), a deliberate contrast with a full Langstroth deep or a National super loaded with honey, which can run 40-60 lbs. Every other dimension of the hive — the long, shallow brood chamber, the multiple smaller supers stacked above it, the legs that raise the whole hive to standing height — follows from that one starting rule rather than from bee behavior first.
Dimensions and Frame Compatibility
The brood chamber is a single rectangular box holding 21 frames built to the British National 14×12 standard: 14 inches wide by 12 inches deep, considerably deeper than a standard National frame and roomier than a typical Langstroth deep. Insulated dummy boards sit at each end of the box, letting a beekeeper contract or expand the usable brood area without changing the hive’s outer dimensions. Because the frame size matches the National 14×12 standard already used across UK beekeeping, a Dartington hive owner can source frames, foundation, and even supers from standard British Standard hive suppliers rather than needing hive-specific parts, which is not true of a Layens hive or Kenyan top-bar hive, both of which use nonstandard frame sizes.
How the Honey Supers Work
Unlike a purely horizontal hive such as a Layens or a long top-bar box, where the whole colony including stores expands sideways along one level, the Dartington adds honey capacity vertically: four or more shallow supers stack on top of the long brood chamber. This hybrid layout is the core of the ergonomic design — keeping the heaviest single component, the brood chamber, at a fixed, manageable weight on its own stand, while additional honey capacity is added in small, liftable increments above it rather than as more length along the ground.
Building a Dartington Hive
The hive was sold commercially for a period, but Dartington explicitly designed it to be home-buildable, using ordinary plywood and materials available from a standard timber merchant rather than specialist hive-grade lumber. His construction book documents both a “garden” and a “country” model, giving builders a choice of finish and durability depending on where the hive will sit. No hive-specific tools are required beyond what a competent home woodworker would already own.
Managing a Dartington Hive
Day-to-day management follows standard National-frame inspection technique, since the frames themselves are a recognized British size — a beekeeper already familiar with National equipment does not have to relearn frame handling, only the hive’s layout. The main practical difference from a stacked National or Langstroth hive is where weight sits during an inspection: because the brood chamber never needs to be lifted as a unit, and honey supers are added and removed individually at a manageable size, a Dartington colony can be fully worked from a standing position without ever handling a fully loaded deep box.
Community, Books, and Where to Get Help
Because the Dartington was never manufactured and distributed at National or Langstroth scale, most of what a new owner needs comes from a small set of primary sources rather than a wide retail network. Dartington’s own two books — the original design and rationale in New Beekeeping in a Long Deep Hive, and the practical build instructions in the later Construction Information for Dartington Hives — remain the primary references, both still in print through specialist UK beekeeping publishers. Beyond the books, ongoing questions about build details, frame sourcing, and management quirks are mostly answered in long-running threads on UK beekeeping forums, where existing Dartington owners document their own builds and modifications rather than a manufacturer’s support line.
Dartington vs Other Horizontal and Long Hives
| Feature | Dartington Long Deep | Layens Hive | British National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame size | National 14×12 (14 in x 12 in) | Nonstandard deep frame (varies by build) | National (14 in x 8.5 in) |
| Brood expansion | Fixed-length box, dummy boards | Horizontal, along one box | Vertical, add a second brood box |
| Honey capacity added | Vertically, in small supers above | Horizontally, same level as brood | Vertically, in full-size supers |
| Max normal lift (design target) | ~16 lbs (8 kg) | Varies; single frames only | 40-60 lbs per loaded super |
| Designed for | Garden and rooftop hobbyist use | Migratory and hobbyist use (Spain) | General UK hobbyist to commercial use |
Real Limits of the Design
The Dartington’s biggest practical limitation is availability: it was never mass-manufactured at the scale of a National or Langstroth hive, so most owners either build their own from Dartington’s published plans or buy secondhand, and community knowledge is concentrated in a small number of UK beekeeping forums rather than widespread commercial support. Dartington himself was explicit that the design targets home and garden beekeeping rather than commercial or migratory operations, so it is not built for the frame-handling speed or stackable transport that a commercial Langstroth setup offers. For how it stacks up against other horizontal and long-hive designs generally, see our horizontal hive comparison and our full guide to beehive types.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented the Dartington Long Deep Hive?
Robin Dartington, a professional engineer, designed it in 1975 to solve the specific problem of keeping bees on the roof of a five-storey house in London, where lifting full-weight honey boxes was impractical.
What frame size does a Dartington hive use?
It uses the British National 14×12 frame standard, 14 inches wide by 12 inches deep, which means frames, foundation, and supers can be sourced from standard National beekeeping suppliers.
How many frames does a Dartington brood chamber hold?
The brood chamber holds 21 National 14×12 frames in a single long, shallow box, with insulated dummy boards at each end to adjust the usable brood area.
Is a Dartington hive good for commercial beekeeping?
No. Dartington designed it specifically for garden and rooftop hobbyist beekeeping, not for the frame-handling speed, stackability, or transport that commercial or migratory beekeeping requires.
Can you buy a Dartington hive, or do you have to build one?
It was sold commercially for a period but is not widely manufactured today. Most current owners build their own from Robin Dartington’s published construction plans, using ordinary plywood and basic woodworking tools.
How is a Dartington hive different from a Layens hive?
A Layens hive expands entirely horizontally, with honey and brood on the same level in one long box. A Dartington keeps the brood chamber horizontal but adds honey capacity vertically, in small supers stacked above it, which is the basis of its lighter-lift ergonomic design.
Why does the Dartington hive limit lifts to 16 lbs?
Dartington designed the hive from ergonomic first principles, setting a target that no normal honey-box manipulation should require lifting more than about 16 lbs (8 kg), well under the 40-60 lbs a fully loaded Langstroth or National super can weigh.
Where can you get help if you build a Dartington hive?
Support comes mainly from Robin Dartington’s own published books and from active discussion threads on UK beekeeping forums, since the design was never sold through a large commercial network with dedicated customer support the way a National or Langstroth hive is.
