dating a possible medieval building?

[robgil]

ive just spoken to a member of the local history group and have received some more info on the cottages history. there has been a tenement here dating back to the 1300's and it also says that the cottage may have replaced an earlier one. there is also info on it only being one room above another so it could have been a derelict for a while.
one half of the cottage is quite obviously newer than the other half (but still what looks to be Georgian / early Victorian).
so , tell tale signs of obvious date markers guys? anyone know? brick size for instance? timber frame construction? anything at all would be very helpful , internal chimneys for instance , can i date it from this?

 

[Nigel Watts]

Inspect roof joinery armed with a copy of Cecil Hewitt's English Historic Carpentry?

 

[Nigel Watts]

Earlier medieval houses didnt usually have brick chimneys. These were often added in tudor times or later when previous open halls and open roofs were subdivided by the insertion of intermediate floors. The Georgians were also partial to adding sash windows and classical brick facades to provide instant makeovers.

 

[robgil]

would it have been possible for a house to have a cross entry through the middle of the house and on one side have a ground and first floor room and on the other side to have an open hall?
i do know that quite a lot of 14th century cottages were too low to have an upper floor added , especially in the north of england for some reason , these low houses were usually demolished and rebuilt to have a first floor added. thats why very few of them remain today.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

would it have been possible for a house to have a cross entry through the middle of the house and on one side have a ground and first floor room and on the other side to have an open hall?

Pantry and buttery on the ground floor and solar above? Your house is starting to sound a bit grand

 

[robgil]

i have just learned that in 1600 this cottage was rebuilt or built replacing an older one then in 1676 although having four rooms and a cross entry only two rooms were inhabited so we have reason to believe it was either derelict or it had an open hall on one side,the records say ''samual page was ordered on three occasions to repair his house'' he was the tenant in the 1695 servay, so sometime around 1700 one half of the house was either rebuilt again or repaired and another floor added and this is quite obvious when looking around the ground floors that one half is older than the other.
i am reading through records dating back to 1351 when a william cook damaged a ladys pasture with cows on the tenement. thrilling stuff.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

1600 would be VERY late for a newly-built open hall, even in barbarian Suffolk :wink:

Is "damaging a ladys pasture" a euphemism? Penners?

 

[robgil]

1600 would be VERY late for a newly-built open hall, even in barbarian Suffolk :wink:

Is "damaging a ladys pasture" a euphemism? Penners?

not even if the open hall pre dated 1600 and 1600 was when the old house was transformed rather than rebuilt into a house with one half a first floor and inglenook? thats a long shot isnt it? especially because the inglenook is on the old side of the house.

i think a more logical answer is the house suffered some sort of damage in the late 1600's to one half of it and it was later repaired , i have found signs of fire damage/scorching to some of the king studs and under the concrete floor i have found some charred wood so perhaps it caught fire.

 

[robgil]

"damaging a ladys pasture" a euphemism? Penners?

if it is he did it with his cows.. :shock: poor lady.

 

[Penners]

1600 would be VERY late for a newly-built open hall, even in barbarian Suffolk :wink:

Is "damaging a ladys pasture" a euphemism? Penners?

Here in barbarian Suffolk, we know full well that damaging a lady's pasture is permitted by invitation only. And even then, only when we can be confident that it will grow back within a reasonable time - preferably before the ravages of winter take their toll.

 

[Schoolmarm]

:lol: