Girlington Hall, Ovington, County Durham: Tree-Ring Analysis and Radiocarbon Wiggle-Matching of Oak and Elm Timbers

Arnold, A., Howard, R., Tyers, C., Marshall, P., Bollhalder, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M., Dunbar, E. , Palstra, S. and Wacker, L. (2020) Girlington Hall, Ovington, County Durham: Tree-Ring Analysis and Radiocarbon Wiggle-Matching of Oak and Elm Timbers. Technical Report. Historic England.

Abstract

Analysis was undertaken on samples from the roof and ceiling structures of the hall and cross-wing resulting in the construction of three site sequences: GRLNSQ01 contains 34 oak samples and spans the period AD 1268–1440; GRLNSQ02 contains 13 oak samples and spans the period AD 1412–1579; GRLNSQ03 contains six elm samples but remains undated. In the hall, a series of reused common rafters, thought to have been from the original roof, have been dated to AD 1436, whilst two purlins are somewhat later being felled in AD 1579 and AD 1594–1619. The ground- and first-floor ceiling frames, thought to be later alterations, utilise timber felled in AD 1579, but the first floor ceiling also incorporates some timber felled in the period AD 1435–60. In the cross-wing, the roof timbers have been dated as being felled in AD 1439 and AD 1440, whilst the ground-floor ceiling frame also contains timber felled in AD 1440. The first-floor ceiling frame, again thought to be a later alteration, contains some timbers felled in the period AD 1435–60 and others potentially representing more than one period of felling in the mid/late sixteenth century. Radiocarbon dating was undertaken on single-ring samples from two elm timbers (GRL-N18 and GRL-N20) from the 158 year undated site sequence GRLNSQ03. Wiggle-matching of these results indicates that the timbers in this site sequence, from the hall roof, were probably felled around cal AD 1700.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Technical Report)
• Additional Information: Report Number: 79/2019.
• Keywords: Dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, standing building, wiggle-match.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dunbar, Dr Elaine
• Authors: Arnold, A., Howard, R., Tyers, C., Marshall, P., Bollhalder, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M., Dunbar, E., Palstra, S., and Wacker, L.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Publisher: Historic England