TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF TIMBERS FROM THE PRESBYTERY ROOF, ABBEY CHURCH OF ST ALBAN'S, ST ALBANS, HERTFORDSHIRE
Author(s): Robert Howard, R R Laxton, Cliff Litton
Thirty-nine samples from the ceiling and roof of the Presbytery were analysed by tree-ring dating. This analysis produced three site chronologies. The first, composed of sixteen samples from the boards of the painted ceiling, has 203 rings spanning the period AD 1060 - AD 1262. It is highly likely that the timber used for these boards is of Continental origin, probably from north-east Holland and northern Germany. The second site chronology is made up of fifteen samples from the beams of the above-ceiling structure. This second site chronology has 113 rings spanning AD 1151 - AD 1263. These timbers appear to be of English origin. The third and final site chronology is made up of two samples with 85 rings spanning the period AD 969 to AD 1053. It is estimated that the felling date of the timbers used for some, perhaps most, of the above-ceiling structure lies in the range AD 1273 - 98. The felling date of the timber used for the ceiling boards cannot be estimated reliably because none of the samples definitely have a heartwood/sapwood boundary. However, given the nature of the roof structure and the fact that the date of the last rings on the boards is only a year later than that for the beams, it is probable that the boards were put in when the roof was built and that the timber for the boards was also felled in the late-thirteenth century. Interpretation of the sapwood on two of the timbers of the above-ceiling structure would suggest an estimated felling date in the range AD 1067 - 92. Such a date might indicate the reuse of some timbers originally felled for the work undertaken by Abbot Paul de Caen, between AD 1077 - 88.
- Report Number:
- 32/2001
- Series:
- CfA Reports
- Pages:
- 30
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
