Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Finchale Priory Barn, Brasside, Durham
Author(s): Alison Arnold, R R Laxton, Cliff Litton
Analysis was carried out on twenty-three samples obtained from timbers of this barn, resulting in the construction of three site sequences. Site sequence FNCLSQ01, of 229 rings, contain ten samples and spans the period AD 1449-AD 1677. Interpretation of the sapwood points towards felling of the timbers in c AD 1689. Site sequence FNCLSQ02, of 75 rings, contains three samples and spans the period AD 1348-AD 1422. Only one of these samples has the heartwood/sapwood boundary ring allowing the calculation of an estimated felling date range of AD 1437-62 for the timber represented. A third site sequence, of 76 rings, containing three samples could not be dated. Attempts to date the remaining samples individually were unsuccessful. Tree-ring analysis has successfully dated thirteen timbers at this barn, ten of which are thought to have been felled in c AD 1689, supporting the seventeenth-century construction date previously assigned to the barn. However, the dating of three timbers to the mid-fifteenth century supports the theory that timbers from an earlier building have been incorporated into the structure.
- Report Number:
- 99/2002
- Series:
- CfA Reports
- Pages:
- 23
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
