Twelfth-Century Timbers From Sixhills, Lincolnshire, and a Review of Medieval Stave Construction in England

Abstract

A group of twelfth-century timbers was found re-used as joists in a mid sixteenth-century house on the Lincolnshire Wolds. It is suggested that they were first prepared for use in the nearby priory of Sixhills and dendro-provenancing indicates they are likely to have come from trees in Sherwood Forest. The timber is notably straight-grown. The fine condition of the timber allowed conclusions to be drawn about the tools used to hew it. The joists seem to have originated in a stave structure. The wider evidence for this form of building in England is reviewed and evidence for comparable stave buildings, including the church at Greensted, is considered. It is argued that stave construction was rarely used because of the careful preparation required and the quantity of timber needed.

Keywords:

• stave
• timber buildings
• timber-working
• Gilbertine
• Greensted church
• waterfronts

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to the members of the Hainton Heritage Group and the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology for supporting the investigation of Sixhills Farmhouse, and especially to Christopher Heneage and Anna Burdon-Cooper, for providing unflagging encouragement. The dendrochronology project at Sixhills was generously funded by the Vernacular Architecture Group, through their Research Grants scheme.

Notes

1 In recent years, the building has become known as ‘The Nunnery’, though this name is without any historical basis.

2 Roberts, “The Persistence of Archaic Framing Techniques — I”; Roberts, “The Persistence of Archaic Framing Techniques — II.”

3 For further details, see Field et al., “Dissolution and Reconstruction.”

4 Ibid.

5 Arnold and Howard, “Lincoln Lane Farmhouse, Sixhills.”

6 Joists 1, 11, 12, 13 and 23 were more recent timbers.

7 Stenton, Transcripts of Charters Relating to the Gilbertine Houses, no. 1ff.; cf. Page, A History of the County of Lincoln 2, 194–5.

8 Everson et al., Change and Continuity, 162–4.

9 Edlin, Woodland Crafts in Britain, 12; Hill and Woodger, Excavations at 72–75 Cheapside/83–93 Queen Street, 48–9; Vince, Aspects of Saxo-Norman London: II, 135, 137.

10 Countersunk peg holes in the upper surface of the joists belonged to the use of the timbers in their present position and therefore say nothing about their earlier usage.

11 Stocker et al., “Lincolnshire’s Middle Trent Valley.”

12 McNeill, “The Romanesque Cloister in England,” 47; Harrison, “Benedictine and Augustinian Cloister Arcades,” 127–8.

13 Morley, “The Nave Roof of St Mary, Kempey,” 103; Épaud, De la Charpente Romane à la Charpente Gothique, 361.

14 The results of an experiment to determine whether there were raised quantities of lead on the boards using a portable XRF were inconclusive. See http://www.slha.org.uk/groups/building_recording_features/#apm1_2 for details.

15 Épaud, De la Charpente Romane à la Charpente Gothique, 129.

16 Miles, The Tree-Ring Dating of the Roof Carpentry, Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, 6, 21.

17 Volmer and Zimmermann, Glossary of Prehistoric and Historic Timber Buildings, 32, fig. 10.

18 For example, Ayre and Wroe-Brown, “The Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Waterfront,” 222.

19 Hardy et al., AElfric’s Abbey, 63, 207–9.

20 Milne, Timber Building Techniques in London, 86–9. Although these were initially published as sole plates, subsequent work has established that the timbers were wall plates (see Hill and Woodger, Excavations at 72–75 Cheapside/83–93 Queen Street, 32).

21 Horsman et al., Aspects of Saxon-Norman London: I, 101–5; Truman, “Excavations at Stockbridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1995,” 112–13.

22 Milne, Timber Building Techniques, 26; Steedman et al., Aspects of Saxo-Norman London: III, 51–6.

23 Milne, Timber Building Techniques, 28–29; Steedman et al., Aspects of Saxo-Norman London: III, 63–5, 71; Schofield et al., London’s Waterfront 1100–1666, 31–6.

24 Milne and Milne, Medieval Waterfront Development at Trig Lane, 29–36; Milne, Timber Building Techniques, 72–5.

25 Mackinder, Roman and Medieval Revetments on the Thames Waterfront, 20; Ayre and Wroe-Brown, “The Eleventh-and Twelfth-Century Waterfront,” 225.

26 Watson et al., London Bridge, 70.

27 Ayre and Wroe-Brown, “The Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Waterfront,” 259.

28 Seeberg, Dictionary of Archaeology: English–German–Norwegian, 221; Christie et al., “The Wooden Church of St Andrew at Greensted,” 111, n. 25; Volmer and Zimmermann, Glossary of Prehistoric and Historic Timber Buildings, 144–5; Anker, “What is a Stave Church?”, 17.

29 Jensenius, “Bygningstekniske og Arkeologiske Bemerkninger,” 154, 160; Jensenius, “Wooden Churches in Viking and Medieval Norway,” 21–3.

30 Almevik and Westin, “Hemse Stave Church Revisited,” 10–13; Anker, “Between a Temple and a House of Cards,” 146–7.

31 Meeson, “Plank-Walled Building Techniques,” 29–35.

32 Ayre and Wroe-Brown, “The Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Waterfront,” illus., 40b. For this reason, building IR03 is rejected as a stave building. Horsman et al., Aspects of Saxon-Norman London: I, 65, 75–76.

33 Anker, “Between a Temple and a House of Cards,” 140–41; Ahrens, “An English Origin for Norwegian Stave Churches?”.

34 For the terminus post quem date, see Tyers, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from the Stave Church at Greensted; Tyers et al., “Tree-Ring Dates from Sheffield University,” 142.

35 For the use of D-shaped timbers, see Horsman et al., Aspects of Saxon-Norman London: I, 65, 75, although this is not accepted as a stave building using the definition applied here.

36 Ahrens, Frühe Holzkirchen in Nördlichen Europa, 600, 603 for summaries of opinions on dates.

37 Courtenay and Alcock, “Romanesque Roofs.”

38 Beresford, Goltho, 57–8, 62–3.

39 Chapman, West Cotton, Raunds, 42, 58–9.

40 Schofield et al., London’s Waterfront 1100–1666, 280.

41 Ibid., 109, 283.

42 Hill and Woodger, Excavations at 72–75 Cheapside/83–93 Queen Street, 31–3.

43 Glyn Coppack, pers. comm.

44 St John Hope, “The Gilbertine Priory of Watton,” 19.

45 Foreville and Keir, The Book of St Gilbert, 46.

46 St John Hope, “The Gilbertine Priory of Watton,” 9.

47 Golding, Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order, 132.