Leicester’s Gatehouse, Kenilworth Castle, Kenilworth, Warwickshire: Radiocarbon wiggle-matching of oak stair timbers
Author(s): Alison Arnold, Robert Howard, Cathy Tyers, Silvia Bollhalder, Lukas Wacker, Peter Marshall
Radiocarbon wiggle-matching of undated site chronology KNWCSQ08 suggests its final ring formed in cal AD 1553–1573 (95% probability) probably in cal AD 1557–1565 (68% probability), with the timber having an estimated felling date in the range cal AD 1567–1605 (95% probability) probably cal AD 1573–1591 (68% probability). Other timbers used in the Gatehouse appear to have felling dates clustering in the third quarter of the sixteenth century, the primary building of the Gatehouse by the site’s namesake, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, possibly during the AD 1560s and 70s. It is therefore likely that the stair timbers in the south-west turret represent primary material associated with the building’s construction.
- Report Number:
- 70/2023
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 19
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Radiocarbon Dating
