TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF TIMBERS FROM FYFIELD HALL, ESSEX
Author(s): Dr Martin Bridge
This complex building appears to be centred on a two-day aisled hall, the earth-fast corner posts of which are carved in a style which suggests that they date from AD 1160 - AD 1240 (Hewett 1980). The central arcade posts and arched braces are from a later rebuild of the hall. Two tree-ring dates had previously been obtained, both based on material taken in 1985. One date was from what is thought to be a re-used timber forming an aisle tie on the north side of the central north post and had an outside ring (the fifth sapwood ring) formed in AD 1135, and the second from the central northern arcade post itself had an outer ring (the fourth sapwood ring) formed in AD 1385. Neither sample had the bark edge present. The present study confirms both these dates and extends the data set to include several elements of the roof structure, all of which were of oak. It gives narrower felling date ranges based on multiple samples which date the felling of the timbers for the first phase, assuming them to come from a single batch of timbers, to AD 1167 to 1185, and the felling of timbers for the major rebuild including the central arcade posts and easternmost arcade plates to AD 1397 to 1416, again assuming that these represent a single batch of timbers, using the sapwood number range 10-55 rings. This information shows Fyfield Hall to be one of the oldest inhabited houses in England.
- Report Number:
- 17/1998
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 11
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
