TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF TIMBERS FROM 21 THE MINT, EXETER, DEVON
Author(s): Nigel Nayling
This report presents the results of a dendrochronological survey undertaken at 21 The Mint, Exeter (NGR SX 91759250), prior to, and during repair works. The building was formerly part of St Nicholas' Priory, said to have been the refectory, and is a grade II* listed building. Dating of five phases or structural groups was requested: the roof, a three-storey partition and associated first and second floors,and a recently discovered and finely-carved reused screen. Six timbers from the south-west portion of the roof with its arch-braced collar trusses were felled in the period AD 1439-53 indicating a mid fifteenth-century construction date. Two timbers were dated from the three-storey partition including one which gives a precise felling date of winter AD 1575/6. Thus the partition post-dates construction of at least the south-west part of the roof. Relative dating of the first-floor beams and joists, east of the passage, may be inferred from crossmatching between a sample from a stud in the three-storey partition on the first floor and a sample from a first-floor beam, consistent with the partition and the first floor being contemporary. The reused, single storey, partition could not be dated as no timbers suitable for analysis were located.
- Report Number:
- 55/2001
- Series:
- CfA Reports
- Pages:
- 18
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
