New Insights into Timber-Framing in Shropshire: Findings from the Tilley Timber Project

Abstract

The Tilley Timber Project accurately dated 21 buildings with a total of 33 phases of development by tree-ring analysis in and around Tilley, a small village in north Shropshire. A spike of timber construction in Tilley when decorative wall-framing was at its height is identified. Using this data together with 261 previously published tree-ring dates, the datable changes in the style of timber-framing across the county are summarised and some of the possible causes discussed.

Keywords:

• Dendrochronology
• historic buildings
• oak
• timber
• Shropshire

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work of all people in the village who have been involved in the Tilley Timber Project is gratefully acknowledged, but particularly those on the Project Committee. We particularly thank all those householders who allowed their buildings to be recorded and dated. BARD is located at www.buildingarchaeology.org and is funded by a partnership of the Domestic Building Research Group (Surrey) and Tree-Ring Services. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and particularly their knowledge of local historical sources. Unless otherwise stated in the captions, all figures are copyright of the authors.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.

NOTES

Notes

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2 Garbet, A History of Wem.

3 Garbet, A History of Wem, 252.

4 Op. cit.

5 Gough, Antiquities & Memoirs of the Parish of Myddle, 23–5, 29–30; Shropshire Archives.

6 Watts, Survey of the Lordship of Wem 1561.

7 Shropshire Archives, Shrewsbury 972/49/2.

8 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire.

9 Newman and Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Shropshire.

10 Alcock et al., Recording Timber-Framed Buildings.

11 Moir et al., “An Internet-Accessible Building Archaeological Research Database (BARD).”

12 Wild and Moir, “Key Dating Features for Timber-Framed Dwellings in Surrey.”

13 Freely available to download at http://www.buildingarchaeology.org.

14 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire.

15 Pearson, “The Chronological Distribution of Tree-Ring Dates, 1980–2001.”

16 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire, 304.

17 Moir, “Tree-Ring Dates from Tree-Ring Services List 291,” 93.

18 Reid and Nash, The Tilley Timber Project, 6.

19 Miles and Haddon-Reece, “Tree-Ring Dates — List 64,” 70.

20 Miles et al., “List 155: Ditton Priors Dendrochronology Project,” 115.

21 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire, 43–4.

22 Op. cit.

23 Wild and Moir, “Key Dating Features for Timber-Framed Dwellings in Surrey.”

24 Roberts, Hampshire Houses 1250–1700, 34–5.

25 Miles and Haddon-Reece, “Tree-Ring Dates – List 54,” 57.

26 Miles et al., “List 142: Shropshire Dendrochronology Project,” 115.

27 Miles and Bridge, “Tree-Ring Dates from Oxford List 254,” 100.

28 Miles et al., “List 155: Ditton Priors Dendrochronology Project,” 108.

29 Garbet, A History of Wem, 347.

30 Miles and Haddon-Reece, “Tree-Ring Dates – List 56,” 31.

31 Roberts, Hampshire Houses 1250–1700.

32 Wild and Moir, “Key Dating Features for Timber-Framed Dwellings in Surrey.”

33 Miles et al., “List 180: Shropshire Dendrochronology Project,” 128.

34 Miles and Worthington, “List 83: Shropshire Dendrochronology Project,” 168.

35 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire, 88.

36 Moran, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire, 87.

37 Alcock et al., Recording Timber-Framed Buildings.

38 James, “Saw Marks in Vernacular Buildings.”