St Peter’s Church, West Molesey, Elmbridge, Surrey Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers

Author(s): Alison Arnold, Robert Howard

Tree-ring analysis undertaken on timbers of the tower roof and bell-chamber floor at this church has resulted in the successful dating of three site sequences and one individual sample. Seven of the floor timbers have been dated to a felling within the range AD 1504–22. Ten roof timbers have also been dated. One of these is now known to have been felled in AD 1518 and nine others to a felling within the range AD 1515–40, consistent with an AD 1518 felling. The tower itself has been dated on stylistic grounds to the fifteenth century. It is now known that the bell-tower floor and extant roof contain timbers of the early-sixteenth century. If the fifteenth-century date attributed to the tower is correct, the tree-ring results demonstrate that neither the floor nor the roof can be original.

Report Number:
90/2006
Series:
Research Department Reports
Pages:
26
Keywords:
Dendrochronology Standing Building

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