Wattle and Daub

[Farorchard]

I am trying to date my house

We have wattle and daub panels in a timber A frame..any ideas to the time period for this type of structure.

Thanks
Nellie

 

[Gervase]

Tricky - could be any time up to the 18th century, depending on where you live. Is the building listed? If so, the listing details should give a rough age.
If you want to be super-accurate, a tree-ring date from a core sample will cost about £300 and tell you the exact year in which that lump of wood was cut down.

 

[Farorchard]

Hi Gervase

We have a date stone for 1657...but we believe this was added when alterations were made to the house...roof timbers show an earlier roof line, and the middle of the house is wattle and daub infill to the wooden frame and the ends brick infill.
We know that the initials on the date stone are those of the owner...who was living at this dwelling 3 years earlier than the date stone. I understand that date stones don't always mean the date the house was built.
I thought that core-samples cost more..so £300 is better than I expected.
I need to do some research at the local records office....when I get time...which is something none of us have!

 

[Nemesis]

Core samples can mislead too, of course - older timbers were often re-used.

And houses refurbished with new ones.

 

[middi]

Good points by Gervase an Nemesis.

It can be very difficut to accurately date a building if the obvious lines of research have been exhausted with no positive results.

If the timber frame can be very closely examined, especially the roof method of construction, upper floor joists, old doorways, chimneys( if inserted or original and generally the type and quality of timber joints, the time of construction can usually be narrowed down to a few decades.

Good luck, it is great fun to research an old building.

 

[Davidstacey42]

I had mine dendro-dated in the summer and got the report a couple of weeks ago. Needed samples from 8 oak timbers with at least 50 rings and sapwood intact. 7 of the 8 samples showed a consistent result, trees felled in the spring of 1621, so house probably constructed in that same year (pretty much in line with expectation). Cost about £400 and there is an initial survey for £60 which gives you a good idea if the full survey will get a result. I've painted the date over the front door which saves me answering the 'how old do you reckon it is?' question for the millionth time.

 

[jess marley]

Does the timber HAVE to have 50 rings? We have some lovely chunky old roof timbers but they show clear signs of re-use, more than once... The only timbers which would (almost) absolutely sort out the date would be those to the back, first floor elevation, which is vaguely constucted of mud within a timber frame, and fairly spindly, at about 5" x 4", I have't excavated them fully yet, but cant't believe that you could fit 50 rings in this kind of dimension.
How nice it would be to have some answers though.

 

[biffvernon]

More rings the better, but on counting the two pieces of oak lying closest to this computer I find one with 20 rings per inch and one with 25. Your 4 x 5 inch piece may be more than adequate.

Sometimes one can tell not just the age but also the provenance of a piece of timber. These roof timbers, in the Guildhall, Boston, were found to have been felled in 1390 in the Baltic region.

More from the conservation architects Anderson and Glenn

 

[Cloudscape]

Thanks for that link. The outside of the Guildhall really doesn't give away much. The inside is lovely. And that roof is very impressive.