Borley Church, Hall Road, Borley, Essex: Dendrochronological Investigation and Radiocarbon Wiggle-matching of Oak Timbers from the Nave and Chancel Roofs
Author(s): Dr Martin Bridge, Cathy Tyers, A Bayliss, Michael Dee, Sanne Palstra
Repair work was too far advanced to give access to the chancel roof timbers, although what could be seen looked similar in character to the nave roof timbers, to which access was also restricted. Sapwood disintegrated on most cores, with the result that most cores retained limited numbers of sapwood rings, and all samples therefore had less than 65 rings. Only two timbers cross-matched, but none could be dated by ring-width dendrochronology. Radiocarbon wiggle-matching of one of the two cross-matching cores suggests that these were felled in 1464–1485 cal AD (95% probability; borl63m felling), which is in accordance with fifteenth-century date of these roofs expected on typological grounds. Although only two timbers have been dated by the analysis, these appear to be representative of the surviving fabric and suggest that this is largely medieval in date.
- Report Number:
- 189/2020
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 24
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Radiocarbon Dating Standing Building Wiggle-Match
