Northamptonshire UK

ALTHORP, Althorp House, Garden Temple (SP 683 655)

Felling dates: Winter 1706/7 and Winter 1708/9

Battens (1/2) 1706 (21C); Pilasters 1617, 1672, 1708 (33C); Columns (1/2) 1558. Site Master 1420-1708 ALTHORP1 (t=12.8 HOLLST; 12.6 HUBER; 7.2 MASTERAL; 6.4 SENG98)

Originally constructed in the grounds of Admiralty House in London, the classical temple was moved to Althorp House by the fifth Earl Spencer and used as a summerhouse by the ornamental lake. The façade is composed of a row of four round fluted hollow columns supporting a pediment over an entablature, with square pilasters behind, all in oak. During early 1998 the temple was repaired to enable it to be used as a memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, and the dismantling of the columns allowed samples to be taken from the resulting offcuts. Complete sapwood was obtained from a section of a column as well as a backing batten, and the strong matches with central European chronologies suggest a German origin for the fine-grained oak timber.

(Miles and Worthington 1999, VA 30, list 100)

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COTTINGHAM, The Royal George (SP 844 902)

Felling dates: Winter 1261/2, Summer 1262

Crucks 1261 (17C, 12½C), 1259 (22), 1258 (14); Collar 1261 (38C); Saddle 1231 (H/S), 1233; Ridge 1240 (H/S). Site Master 1110-1261 COTTNGHM (t=8.8 SENG98; 8.0 MASTERAL; 7.9 STOKE2)

The Royal George is a multi-phased public house, the earliest being a three-bayed open hall with two open cruck trusses here dated to 1262. Archaic features include a trait de Jupiter scarfed ridge, notch-lapped collars, and saddles with arched soffits. The dendrochronology was commissioned by Nick Hill as part of his research into the building. For further information see shorter contribution by Hill, N, and Miles, D, 2001 'The Royal George, Cottingham, Northamptonshire: An early cruck building, Vernacular Architect, 32, 62-7.'

(Miles and Worthington 2001, VA 32, list 116)

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SHUTLANGER, The Monastery (SP 728 498)

Felling date range (OxCal modelled): 1304-14 (unrefined 1302-22)

All timbers (7/8): Brace 1274(H/S); Arch brace 1284(+26mm NM); Arcade plates 1245, 1258(H/S), 1263(H/S); Collar 1293(H/S); Principal rafter 1294(H/S). Site Master 1081-1294 SHUTLNGR (t = 12.1 S.ENGLAND; 11.0 GLASTONBURY; 10.8 LONDON)

This Grade I listed former farmhouse was possibly built as a manor house or grange. It is a two-storey house of 3½ bays, including a spere trusswith an almost complete roof intact (though lacking common rafters). The hall section of the roof has a smoke-blackened arch-braced short principal truss with angle-braced arcade plates and wind-braced purlins. A stone wall separates the service wing end of the roof. Dating commissioned by the owner. P. Woodfield, ‘The larger medieval houses of Northamptonshire’, Northamptonshire Archaeology, 16 (1981), 153-195.

(Miles, Worthington, and Bridge 2006, VA 37, list 177)

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Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory

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Michael Worthington
Jane Seiter, Ph.D

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michael@dendrochronology.com