All Saints’ Church, Gazeley, Suffolk : Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from the Roof of the South Aisle
Author(s): Dr Martin Bridge
Sampling was curtailed at this site after only six timbers had been cored, as the remaining timbers were judged to be from faster-grown trees than those sampled, and the cores taken had yielded relatively short sequences. Nevertheless, three sequences, all from the west end of the roof, did cross-match, and a 92-year long site sequence was dated to the period AD 1312–1403. Only one timber retained sapwood, giving a likely felling date of AD 1371–1403, whilst a second timber retained the heartwood-sapwood boundary, giving a likely felling date range of AD 1412–44. Clearly, these two timbers give two non-overlapping felling date ranges, but with the third timber sequence also ending in the late fourteenth century, an early fifteenth-century date for the roof is suggested, but cannot be conclusively proven due to the lack of dating evidence from the centre and eastern end of the roof.
- Report Number:
- 28/2007
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 10
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
