Fig.
1 Location of late 12th/13th century aisled buildings with timbers felled
1167-1230
The earliest extant timber-framed buildings found by dendrochronology cluster around the late 12th/early 13th century. Evidence from archaeology suggests that the late 12th century represents the threshold when fully timber-framed buildings start to appear. Some clarification has resulted from the discovery that a number of buildings once thought to be earlier have timbers felled in the mid 13th century. At the time of writing (June 1999) nine timber-framed buildings have been dated with timbers felled before 1230; seven are aisled halls, one an aisled barn, and the ninth a church bell tower. The aisled buildings are examined and compared here and consideration is given to when this building style is replaced.
The earliest substantive timber-framed structures revealed by dendrochronology so far are nine buildings with timbers felled in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Eight of these are aisled buildings as listed below (seven aisled halls and one aisled barn); except for the Bishops Palace, Hereford which has a timber arcade within stone walls, all are timber-framed:
| Felling date | Early Dated Aisled Buildings | Type |
| 1167-1185 | Fyfield Hall, Essex | Manor House |
| 1179 | Bishops' Palace, Hereford | Palace |
| 1176-1221 | Knight's Templar Hall, Temple Balsall, W Mids | Preceptory Hall |
| 1184-1219 | Westwick Cottage, Hertfordshire | Probably not a Manor House |
| 1182-1227(b) | Newbury Farmhouse, Tonge, Kent | Probably not a Manor House |
| 1205(c) | Sycamore Farm, Long Crendon, Bucks | Not a manor house |
| 1205-1230 | Barley Barn, Cressing Temple, Essex | Barn |
| 1220-1225 | Harlowbury, Essex | Manor House |
Notes:
Their location is shown in Fig. 1,
Fig.
1 Location of late 12th/13th century aisled buildings with timbers felled
1167-1230
and their plans and cross-sections are given in Figs. 2a-d.
Fig.
2 Comparison of Trusses and Plan of buildings with timbers felled 1167-1230
(a) Centre Truss & Plan of Bishop's Palace, Hereford 
(b) Centre Truss & Plan of Burmington, Fyfield &
Temple Balsall 
(c) Centre Truss & Plan
of Westwick, Newbury & Sycamore 
(d) Trusses & Plan of Cressing Barley Barn, &
Centre Truss & Plan of Harlowbury
The ninth building, which is not considered here, is Pembridge Bell Tower, Herefordshire with a felling date of 1207-1223 (Footnote 1). One further building will be discussed alongside the eight dated examples. Burmington Manor, Burmington, Warwickshire, belongs stylistically with this group; it dates from after 1159 but owing to the absence of sapwood it failed to yield a felling date.
The eight dated buildings reinforce archaeological findings which suggest fully timber-framed structures first arose in the late 12th century. All eight early aisled halls are box framed, placing this constructional form before the earliest dated base-cruck and cruck forms. To date the earliest tree-ring dated base-cruck has timber felled 1245-7 and the earliest tree-ring dated cruck blades are around 1270, as shown by Table 1) which lists all buildings dated so far with timbers felled before 1300. All have ground floor open halls, and without exception all these halls, including the non-manorial ones, have more than one bay and were associated with rooms extending beyond at least one end. In no case, therefore, did the hall originally stand as a separate structure. Unfortunately one cannot determine whether they had low and high ends or cross-passages - as in later 14th century open halls - since no door position are known. The hall bays were not necessarily of equal size, though there was a preponderance of equal bays in the survivors; six of the open halls have equal size bays, one has unequal bays.
Structurally the group exhibits some diversity. All, with perhaps one exception, used passing braces in at least the open hall trusses, and many (but not all) used notched lap joints. Some have longitudinal support for the roof in the form of diagonal rafter bracing. At least three forms of arcade bracing were in use around 1200: arch-braces forming semicircular arcading, straight braces and short curved braces. Possibly straight arcade bracing was replacing semicircular arcading around this time as all those dated so far to the mid-13th century have straight braces. Also, there is little to distinguish the three early buildings with straight arcade braces from these mid-13th aisled buildings. New forms without passing braces start to appear in the late 13th century, though there was a considerable overlap.
These main points arising from an analysis of the eight aisled buildings are discussed in more detail below. Details of each building are given and a comparison of their details is offered in Tables 2-4 (Table 2; Table 3; Table 4). Measurements are derived from a variety of sources, and should be treated as approximate.
The earliest of these buildings date from
the second half of the 12th century, supporting the archaeological findings from
the London waterfronts that true timber-framing with pegged, tightly cut
mortise-and-tenon joints, emerged around 1180(Footnote
2). The reappearance of this joint, known in Roman times, coincided with the
reintroduction of the saw. Archaeology also identified changes in metal and
ceramic technology around the same time in London (Footnote
3). The only known earlier timber buildings are St Andrew's Church,
Greenstead-juxta- Ongar, Essex with timber felled 1063-1103 and the roof of St
Mary's Church, Kempley, Gloucestershire, felled 1124-1160 (Footnote
4). Greenstead Church is of stave construction, not timber-framed, and
relies solely upon grooves, lap joints and pegs to hold it together (Footnote
5). There are no mortise and tenons or dovetail joints. Kempley's roof uses
only lap joints, mostly barefaced lap dovetails (Fig. 3). 
Fig. 3 Nave Roof of St Mary's Church, Kempley, Gloucestershire (timbers felled 1124-60) (After Morley 1985 & Miles et al 1999)
Two buildings thought to be earlier - the Grange Barn, Coggeshall and Paul's Hall Barn, Belchamp St Pauls, both in Essex, have timbers felled 1240-1280 (Table 1)(Footnote 6).
All nine buildings of 1165-1230 are box framed, and apart from Pembridge Bell Tower, are aisled. By contrast, the earliest dated base-cruck, at the Tithe Barn, Siddington, Gloucestershire, dates from 1245-7 (Footnote 7). The earliest crucks are at Higher Broughton Farm, Stoke St Mary, Somerset (1268-1300) (Footnote 8), and Cruck Cottage, Upton Magna, Shropshire dated to 1269 (Footnote 9), both of which have notched lap joints.
It is not only high-status buildings which have survived. The smallest three, Westwick Cottage, Newbury Farmhouse and Sycamore Farm are below manorial status. The rest are of higher status; three are manor houses or their equivalent, one is a barn belonging to the Knights' Templar and one is a bishop's palace. The form of timber framing appears to be of similar regardless of status, except possibly that the non-manorial halls have plainer capitals (Fig. 4). However, the number surviving is too small to draw firm conclusions.
Fig. 4 Capitals of selected aisled halls
(a) Burmington Hall, capital on centre truss
(from SW)
(b) Fyfield Hall, NW arcade post from S
(c) Westwick Cottage,
N 'spere' from N
(d) Bishop's Palace, Hereford, capital for brace to nave
(e) Newbury Farmhouse,centre truss (S post)
(f)
Harlowbury, centre truss (N post)
(g) West Bromwich Manor, base cruck
capital
(h) Place House, centre truss
All the domestic aisled halls had ground floor open halls with an additional bay or bays beyond the open hall. Six of the seven open halls are of two equal bays, but clearly this is not the only model as the small non-manorial Westwick Cottage has two unequal bays surviving. Here there was probably a third, perhaps a 'spere', bay as well. The large open hall of the Bishop's Palace had four equal bays. Three of the buildings (Fyfield, Temple Balsall & Harlowbury) clearly had bays beyond both ends of the open hall, as possibly did Newbury Farm. Westwick Cottage and Sycamore Farm are uncertain, but the Bishops Palace at Hereford probably only had a room at one end. In most cases, the ends continued in line with the open hall, but the Bishop's Palace, Hereford may have had a crosswing (Footnote 10), and a similar arrangement cannot be ruled out at the small Westwick Cottage.
In some cases these inline bays may have been two-storeyed as the surviving bay beyond the hall at Temple Balsall finished in a gable wall, providing sufficient head height for an upper room which could have been lit by a window in the gable. However, many of the inline rooms beyond the hall probably had no upper chamber, such as at Fyfield Hall where the end bays are in return (or end) aisles, and thus hipped, making it difficult to light any upper room. A clear example of this is the later aisled hall of Nurstead Court, Meopham, Kent, dated to 1303-1327, where there were only ground floor rooms(Footnote 11). Even where there was a gable, a chamber is not inevitable. Stanton's Farm, Black Notley, Essex of c.1300, an aisled hall with inline end gable, did not have an upper chamber over the service end. An example of the development of the end chamber can be seen at Orchard Cottage, Foxearth, Essex, a small timber-framed aisled hall of around 1300 (Footnote 12). The high end was originally hipped off in a return aisle. Later the aisles were narrowed and heightened, and at the same time the high end chamber was extended to finish in a gable wall, allowing an upper chamber to be added.
The three manor houses (Fyfield Hall, Harlowbury and Burmington Manor) are of similar size, the length of the open hall ranging from 38-43ft (12-13m) long by between 34-37ft (10.4-11.3m) wide including the aisles (Table 2). The three non-manorial houses are smaller and more various. Newbury Farmhouse has an open hall 31ft long by 33ft wide (9.5 by 10m), Westwick Cottage, Hertfordshire was, at the most, 28ft (8.5m) long assuming it had a 5ft (1.5m) spere bay, and only 23ft (7m) wide including the aisles, while the sole surviving bay at Sycamore Farm is only 11ft long (3.3m).
Of the internal plan of these buildings, we know nothing, as no external walls survive, nor is evidence for internal doors visible. An exception is Fyfield Hall, Essex, where it can be shown that in the rooms beyond both ends of the open hall, the north aisle was partitioned off from the rest of the bay. It is not known if the south aisle was also partitioned. It is unlikely these aisle partitions were for stairs as it is improbable that there were upper floors. These halls may have been lit by large oriel or dormers windows as found in later halls. Only two still have their roof to the open hall - Harlowbury and Fyfield. The former has strong evidence, the latter less so, of dormer windows over one bay. Clearly we cannot assume they had 'low & high' ends at this date. Full evidence of the plan and door positions in timber-framed halls is not found until the early 14th century, and these have the 'standard' three unit medieval plan of services, open hall with crosspassage, and high end parlour.
In the present state of knowledge we cannot exclude there having been much greater variations in plans than are represented by the eight dated buildings. For example at Great Bricett Priory, Great Bricett, Suffolk, the 13th century hall, which abutted the cloister, had only one aisle and an internal jetty. That these halls did not stand alone is perhaps not surprising. Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, found under a Norman ringwork and dating from the early 11th century, was formerly interpreted as an open hall with a central hearth, service chamber, screens passage, and a high end chamber (Footnote 13), though the interpretation is now viewed with skepticism (Footnote 14). But Oakham Castle, Rutland has a full three unit medieval plan by around 1190, though without a crosspassage (Footnote 15).
Unfortunately these earliest tree-ring-dated buildings tell us little about the transition from earthfast arcade posts to the adoption of sill beams (Table 3). Only Fyfield Hall has evidence of earthfast posts, used in both its late 12th century build and its c1400 rebuilding. Recent archaeology at Newbury Farm has shown the central arcade posts originally sat on padstones (Footnote 16). At the Bishops Palace, Hereford, at Temple Balsall and at Sycamore Farm the posts rest today on stone padstones, but the dates of these are unknown. For the rest we do not know what was used.
Seven of the eight used passing braces. The eighth, the Bishops Palace, may well have had them in its missing clerestorey as Burmington Hall, Warwickshire, which had similar lap-jointed arcade braces but no clerestorey, had passing braces with notched laps joints (see Fig. 14). The passing braces always occur in the central open truss, but not necessarily in the end trusses; they always rose across the nave, but not always across the aisles (Table 3), nor did they always rise fully to the rafters. Those at Harlowbury terminate at the collar, and in the Barley Barn at Cressing Temple, Essex, one finishes at the point where it meets the other brace. Usually, but not always, the braces are the same scantling as the common rafters. At Westwick Cottage (1184-1219) they are larger and taper towards the top, as they do at the nearby early 13th century aisled hall, Burston Manor, St Stephens, Hertfordshire (Footnote 17). Here the braces also stop where they cross and do not extend to the rafters. In the seven buildings with passing braces, the braces are parallel with the rafters, though there is insufficient evidence to be sure of the angle of the lower set at Fyfield Hall.
These buildings show that those using a single timber for the passing brace from aisle to rafter, as at the Cressing Temple Barley Barn (1205-1230), are no earlier than those where the brace is divided into two lengths. Newbury Farm (1182-1227) has two lengths, and at Fyfield Hall (1167-1185) and Harlowbury (1220-5) each braces consisted of two blades clasping each side of the central truss. In addition each blade at Harlowbury was in two lengths.
There is no single carpentry feature common to all eight buildings, but some features are common to a number of buildings.
Six of the eight buildings used notched lap joints. The exception is Newbury Farm (1182-1227) and perhaps the Bishops's Palace, Hereford (though see above). Newbury Farm was exceptional in using virtually no lap joints, preferring the mortise and tenon. These dated buildings do not support Cecil Hewett suggestion that there was a development from the late 12th century in the notched lap joint from unrefined entry to secret notched lap (Footnote 18). If there was, it was before the late 12th century. Both the unrefined entry and refined entry (Fig. 5) were being used in the late 12th and early 13th century as Table 3 shows.
Fig. 5. Types of Notched Lap Joints
The secret notched lap could be a later development as its earliest tree-ring-dated use is 1220-5 (at Harlowbury). But it is probably contemporary with the other forms as it is used in the south-east spirelet of Canterbury Cathedral, which documentary evidence dates to 1174-1184 (Footnote 19).
All eight buildings use pegged mortise-and-tenons. Newbury Farm (1182-1227) employs them almost exclusively, and extensive use is made of them at Fyfield Hall (1167-1185) and Harlowbury (1220-5). The Bishops Palace, Hereford (1179) has some mortise-and-tenons but makes considerable use of simple lap joints, with the arcade braces just lapped to both the posts and arcade plate (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. Jointing of arcade braces at Bishop's Palace, Hereford
The latter may be a regional feature as it occurs at Leicester Castle (after 1152) and Burmington Manor, Warwickshire (after 1159). The 'V' mortise is also used in some, but not all, early buildings: Temple Balsall (1176-1221), Westwick Cottage (1184-1219) and Cressing Temple Barley Barn (1205-1230). None were used at Newbury Farm (1182-1227) and Sycamore Farm (1205), and it is uncertain whether they occurred at Fyfield Hall and Harlowbury.
It is possible the scarf joint was not fully developed until the early 13th century, though the evidence is patchy. Temple Balsall has simple splayed and tabled scarfs (Fig. 18) but its splay is cut at around 40 degrees, not the 30 degrees found in later mid 13th century buildings such as Siddington tithe barn, Gloucestershire, felled 1245-7 (Footnote 20), and Lime Tree House, Harwell, Oxon felled 1243-1287 (Footnote 21). At Harlowbury (1220-5), the scarf in the south arcade plate is a simple halving (Fig. 7a), not dissimilar to that used in the Grange Barn, Coggeshall, Essex (Footnote 22), with a 1237-1282 felling (Footnote 23), while the scarf in Harlowbury's north arcade plate shows a complete misunderstanding. It is face splayed (Fig. 7b) and must have been immediately wrapped in its present iron clamp to prevent failure. This also occurred at the later Purton Green, Suffolk (Walker 1994, 135). Newbury Farm also has face splayed scarf joints in the arcade plates, but these have not failed because they are splayed and tabled with undersquinted abutements and slotted tightly together (Footnote 24). No scarfs are visible in Westwick Cottage, and the arcade plates have been replaced at Fyfield Hall and the Cressing Temple Barley Barn. Purton Green also used the much improved splayed-and-tabled scarf with a face key (Fig. 7c), which first appears in the period 1250-1280, as at the Cressing Wheat Barn, Essex (1257-1280), the Cathedral Barn, Hereford (1253-88) and the second phase of the Old Stables, Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire (1280).
Six of the eight have rear upstands on the principal arcade posts (see insert Fig. 18), that is the top of post is wider than the arcade plate, and instead of having a jowl at the front, the post is carried up behind the post. Only the Cressing Temple Barley Barn (1205-1230) does not have one, but here the arcade posts taper up from the base to the plate showing they are erected with the base of the tree at the bottom, as at Temple Balsall. The situation at the Bishops Palace is unknown as the tops of the posts have been removed. The jowl, or a prototype, first appears on the younger Cressing Temple Wheat Barn (1257-80) (Fig. 10), and becomes fully developed in the late 13th century, such as at the West Bromwich Manor House (1269-93) (Footnote 25).
This is where a rising timber is halved across the outer face of the rafters. It is an early, but ubiquitous feature, occurring at Fyfield Hall (1167-1185) and Temple Balsall (1176-1221). It does not occur at Harlowbury (1220-5), the only other one of the eight where the roof survives. Here there is no longitudinal support for the roof.
Boarding infill was clearly fashionable in the late 12th and early 13th century, but wattle-and-daub was also being used. Four of the eight aisled buildings used boarding (Table 3). In three the form of infill is unknown, but the Bishops Palace used wattle and daub to fill the spandrels of the arcade brace (Footnote 26).
Five of the eight buildings have capitals to the arcade posts. As Fig. 4 shows these were carved or block capitals. Moulded capitals like that at West Bromwich Manor House and Place House, Ware, Hertfordshire first appear around 1270 or a little later. Temple Balsall, Sycamore Farm and of course the Barley Barn lack capitals.
The eight buildings between them used three types of arcade bracing; straight bracing with uniform scantling, arched braces forming a semicircular arcade and short curved braces. The Bishop's Palace (1179), and Newbury Farm (1182-1227)) have braces which formed semicircular arches, while at Fyfield Hall (1167- 1185) they formed pointed arches. Temple Balsall (1176-1221), Westwick Cottage (1184-1219) and the Cressing Temple Barley Barn (1205-1230) all employ straight braces. Sycamore Farm (1205) had short curved braces, while at Harlowbury (1220-5) the form of the braces is unclear. It is possible Sycamore Farm results from a late 13th century rebuild, but even if this is the case, the arcade brace is nevertheless from a building with timber felled in 1205. A similar brace, fashioned from timber felled 1160-1195, was reused as the arcade brace from the spere post in Handsacre Hall, Armitage, Staffordshire, a base cruck hall the new timbers of which were felled 1291-1326 (Footnote 27).
Were semicircular arcade braces gradually superseded by straight braces around 1200? All the aisled and base cruck buildings which follow with timber felled 1230-70 either have straight braces or cranked braces. Straight braces occur at Coggeshall Grange Barn, Essex (1237-1269), Paul's Hall Barn, Essex (1240- 1275), Siddington Tithe Barn, Gloucestershire (1245-7), The Cathedral Barn, Hereford (1253-88) (Footnote 28), and the Cressing Temple Wheat Barn, Essex (1257-80). Cranked braces are found in the Old Stables, Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire (1250). Unfortunately it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from this sequence, as none of the buildings listed here is domestic in origin; all but one are barns where straight bracing may have been the norm. The cranked bracing at Wherwell Abbey occur in what was probably an infirmary (Footnote 29).
One additional open hall remains to be discussed: Place House, Ware, Hertfordshire which incorporates some timber felled in 1264-71. This has pointed arch-bracing in the low end bay and short curved braces in the high end, combined with a crownpost roof.
Fig. 8. Place House, Ware, Herts
This may indicate that semicircular arcading continued alongside the later form. However, the felling date is for one spere brace. In addition one arcade post without sapwood yielded a felling date after 1264. The date of erection is probably later, around 1300, since the earliest dated crownposts appear in the 1270s and 1280s, at West Bromwich Manor House of 1269-1293 (Footnote 30), and York Farm, West Hagbourne, Oxon of 1284-5 (Footnote 31). In both, the braces from the crownpost are straight, not curved as at Place House. Such braces appear curved first at Foulbridge, North Yorkshire (1288), a Knight's Templar preceptory of which a three bay aisled hall survives (Footnote 32); the service wing of Tiptofts, Wimbish, Essex (1287-1329); and over the Black Hostelry, Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire - with timbers felled 1268-1308 but possibly erected 1291/2 on documentary evidence (Footnote 33). A slightly later date for Place House is also suggested by the type of scarf joint found there, which is an edge stop-splayed and tabled, with sallied and under-squinted abutments, transverse key and counter-tongued and grooved (Fig. 7d). The earliest tree-ring date for a scarf of this kind is at Foulbridge, followed by Hall House, Newland, Sherborne, Dorset, a base cruck with timbers felled 1299-1332 (Footnote 34), and thereafter the form occurs in a number of 14th century aisled halls.
If Place House is discounted, short curved arcade braces reappear from the 1270s or 1280s combined with longitudinal stiffening of the roof, usually in the form of a collar purlin. Both features are present, without passing braces, at West Bromwich Manor House, at York Farm, and the cruck open hall of Stokesay Castle, Shropshire (1285-90).
As more buildings are dated the answer may become clearer. Almshoebury, Ippolitts, Hertfordshire (Fig. 9) had semicircular arched bracing across the central truss with dog-tooth decoration and passing braces, but with either straight or short curved arcade braces as the bays are too long for the braces to meet and form a semicircular arch. However this could belong to a late 13th century group of buildings as dog-tooth decoration is used in the Old Rectory, Warbleton, East Sussex where the timbers were felled 1292/3 (Footnote 35).
Fig. 9. Reconstruction of Almshoebury, Ippollitts, Herts
It is difficult to draw firm conclusions, but there is little difference between the eight buildings of 1160- 1230 and those dated to 1230-70, except that none have semicircular arcade braces. All have straight braces, combined with passing braces in one or more trusses. There are changes in the scarf joints as discussed above, but little else, though improvements are slowly occurring. Arcade posts are beginning to be erected with the base of the tree at the top, the earliest dated being the Cressing Temple Wheat Barn (1257-80), allowing jowls or front upstands to be formed. Longitudinal support for the roof appears on two mid-13th century buildings - the Siddington Tithe Barn and the Cressing Temple Wheat Barn (Fig. 10) - in the form of square set side purlins clasped by the collar and a vertical strut. None of the dated mid-13th aisled buildings have capitals, the earliest after 1230 is moulded (Fig. 4g), in contrast to the carved forms found on Fyfield Hall or Harlowbury (Fig. 4c;Fig. 4f). This is at West Bromwich Manor House (1269-93), a non-passing brace base cruck hall.
Fig. 10. One bay of Wheat Barn, Cressing Temple, Essex - timbers felled 1257-1280
When were passing braces, straight arcade braces and notched laps superceded by aisled halls along the lines of Place House (Fig. 8)? Aisled halls incorporating passing braces and notched lapped aisled halls continue into the 14th century as shown by the Bury, Clavering, Essex (Fig. 11), a timber-framed manor house with timbers felled 1304.
Fig. 11. The Bury, Clavering, Essex - timbers felled 1304 (copyright Cecil Hewett)
But there was a considerable overlap covering at least the last quarter of the 13th and opening decade of the 14th century. The new form, characterized by curved braces, crownpost roof construction, and an absence of passing braces, was in evidence before the end of the 13th century, as at the base-cruck York Farm, Oxfordshire (1284/5). This has a mixture of straight and curved arcade braces, those from the central base-cruck being straight, the rest slightly curved (Footnote 36). It also has a prototype jowl, or front upstand, and a crosswing at one end. Other examples are the base-cruck West Bromwich Manor House (1269-1293), which has full jowls and probably a crosswing at the low end, and the base-cruck and hammerbeam halls of Pilgrims Hall, Winchester dated to 1285-1322 (Table 1). All three have straight braces from the crownpost. As mentioned above, Foulbridge, North Yorkshire has the earliest dated aisled hall (felled 1288) with curved braces from the crownpost.
The basic plan and form of carpentry with passing braces, notched laps, etc. seem similar across all these early buildings, though the number of dated buildings is too small to draw firm conclusions. However there is some evidence of regional features, such as the lapping of the arcade braces at the Bishops Palace, Hereford, which occur also at Burmington Hall and Leicester Castle (Footnote 37), and the tapering of the passing braces at Westwick Cottage which occurs in other Hertfordshire aisled halls. This is of course similar to the later medieval pattern where many features are common across the country, such as the three-unit open hall house along with jowled posts, and bays of varying length within a single building as opposed to all bays of equal length, while certain other features such as the wall framing, building height etc. differing between regions.
The buildings which survive from the late 12th century have confident carpentry, and if archaeologists are correct in suggesting that the mortise-and-tenon joint reappears at this time along with true timber framing, then this was added to an already well established carpentry tradition, as shown by roof of St Mary's, Kempley's (Fig. 3). There is little to distinguish these earlier buildings from those surviving from the mid-13th century, and it is not until around the last quarter of 13th century that completely new forms appear with longitudinal stiffening for the roof and without passing braces. As more buildings are dated, it may be possible to refine this analysis.
One point is clear; some buildings below manorial status were well enough built to survive down to the present day, adding to the growing evidence refuting the notion that all early buildings were insubstantially built to last only 25-40 years.
Go to:
Part
2: Details
Part 3: More details and Bibliography
