Further Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Middridge Grange, Shildon Road, Heighington, Durham

Author(s): Alison Arnold, Robert Howard, Cliff Litton

Prior to tree-ring analysis being undertaken Middridge Grange was thought to have been built in c AD 1600 with modifications and alterations being carried out in c AD 1690 and in the eighteenth century. In AD 2001 roof trusses in the southern end of the eastern cross-wing were dendrochonologically dated to the second half of the sixteenth century. A second phase of work has now been carried out involving the reanalysis of the early samples along with new ones taken from the ground and first-floor ceiling beams in both the southern and northern parts of the eastern cross-wing. As a result it is now known that parts of the roof and ground and first-floor ceiling/floor frame of the eastern cross-wing, thought to be the earliest surviving part of the building, contains timbers which date to AD 1578. Additionally, two pine joists in the ground-floor ceiling of the kitchen have been dated to AD 1681, confirming the late-seventeenth century modifications to the eastern cross-wing.

Report Number:
9/2006
Series:
Research Department Reports
Pages:
30
Keywords:
Dendrochronology Standing Building

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