The Dower House, Bayham Abbey, Little Bayham, East Sussex : Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers
Author(s): Alison Arnold, Robert Howard
Dendrochronological analysis undertaken on 45 samples taken from the north and south-wing roofs of this building resulted in the construction of a number of site sequences, only two of which could be dated. The first, BAYASQ01, contains five samples, all from the south-wing roof, and spans the period AD 1298–1373. All of these samples are believed to have been felled in AD 1380–1405. The second, BAYASQ02, contains two samples, again from the south wing, and spans the period AD 1469–1550, with these samples thought to have been felled in AD 1560–85. Prior to the tree-ring analysis being carried out, the south wing was thought to date to the first quarter of the eighteenth century, with a large number of the roof timbers being reused. It is now known that this roof contains timbers of the fourteenth/early fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. No timbers from the eighteenth-century phase of construction have been identified. Unfortunately, no timbers from the north-wing roof have been dated. This part of the building remains dated on documentary and structural grounds to the second half of the eighteenth century.
- Report Number:
- 85/2006
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 46
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
