Radiocarbon Dating of a Reused Cruck Blade from Warwickshire and its Implications for the Typology of Cruck Construction

• Published in: Vernacular architecture 2009-01, Vol.40 (1), p.96-102
• Main Authors: Alcock, Nat, Meeson, Bob
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0305-5477; 1749-6292
• DOI: 10.1179/030554709X12528296422806

Radiocarbon dating using Bayesian wiggle-matching of multiple dates has been applied to a cruck blade reused in a seventeenth-century farmhouse, Church End Farm, Nether Whitacre, Warwickshire, which was believed on typological grounds to date from the thirteenth century. However, the date range obtained for the felling of the timber was 1423-46 cal AD (95% probability). This unexpectedly late date has led to a re-evaluation of the original dating, which was based on an apparent close similarity with the tree-ring dated thirteenth-century cruck blades at Upton Magna, Shropshire. Whereas the great majority of arch-braced crucks use mortice-and-tenon joints between these members, it appears from the present project that the cruck trusses at Nether Whitacre and in three other buildings (and possibly also at Upton Magna) belong to a long-lasting though relatively uncommon carpentry tradition using halved joints for arch or straight bracing between blade and collar. The potential and the hazards of modelling buildings from reused timbers are also discussed.