TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF OAK TIMBERS FROM 66 AND 68 WESTGATE STREET, GLOUCESTER
Author(s): Ian Tyers, Robert Wilson
The building at 66 Westgate Street, Gloucester, is a two-bay three-storey timber-framed structure on an important medieval thoroughfare of the city. A single surviving frame of a medieval structure at 68 Westgate Street lies in the space between the medieval structure of 66 Westgate Street and the modern structure at 68 Westgate Street. The building at 66 is listed grade II* and has recently been added to the Buildings at Risk register. The buildings are in the planning stages of an English Heritage grant-aided programme of repair. This report covers the dendrochronological analysis of a series of samples taken from the frames, floor joists, floorboards, and roof timbers of both 66 and 68 Westgate Street which was undertaken to clarify the date of the surviving timbers so as to inform future repair decisions. The results indicate that the original construction of the structure at 66 Westgate Street used trees felled between c AD 1432 and AD 1448. This phase appears to include the roof and attic floor, however the top floor close-studded front elevation is a later replacement felled between AD 1533 and AD 1562. The single datable timber from the surviving frame of 68 Westgate Street was felled between AD 1413 and AD 1439 and is thus broadly contemporary with the original construction date of 66. Some floorboards from the attic at 66 are of early seventeenth-century date, whilst a loose plank found on the ground floor is late thirteenth or early-fourteenth century in date. In total tree-ting date covering a period of 443 years was obtained from timbers in the building.
- Report Number:
- 19/2000
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 27
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
