TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF TIMBERS FROM HEADSTONE MANOR HOUSE, PINNER VIEW, HARROW, LONDON
Author(s): Robert Howard, R R Laxton, Cliff Litton
Ninety-nine samples from the Manor house were analysed by tree-ring dating. This analysis produced seven site chronologies, two of which date. The first dated site chronology consists of nine samples from a wide range of locations within the building. This site chronology has 107 rings that span the period AD 1439 to AD 1545. Interpretation of the sapwood, and the relative positions of the heartwood/sapwood boundaries on the dated samples, suggests that the timbers represented have an estimated felling date in the range AD 1554-84.Given the wide range of locations of the samples in this site chronology it is perhaps not appropriate to infer a felling date range for timbers from specific locations nor a sequential development for the Manor house. Its dating does, however, suggest that a certain amount of work was undertaken at the site in the mid- to late-sixteenth century.A second dated site chronology consists of eight samples, all from the open hall and cross-wing range of the Manor house. Interpretation of the sapwood, and the relative positions of the heartwood/sapwood boundaries on the dated samples in this second site chronology, suggests that the timbers represented have an estimated felling date in the range AD 1310-15.A third, undated, site chronology contains seven samples and has 88 rings. The other four undated site chronologies consist of two samples each and range in length from 57 to 66 rings.
- Report Number:
- 81/2000
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 58
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
