Oxygen isotope dendrochronology of Llwyn Celyn; One of the oldest houses in Wales

Danny Mccarroll,Neil J Loader,Daniel Miles,Caroline Stanford,Richard Suggett,Christopher Bronk Ramsey,Ross Cook,Darren Davies,Giles H.F Young

doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2019.125653

Abstract

We report the application of oxygen isotope dendrochronology to date a high-status and remarkably unaltered late medieval hall house on the eastern border of South Wales. The oak timbers have either short and complacent ring series, or very strong growth disturbance, and none were suitable for ring-width dendrochronology. By using stable oxygen isotopes from the latewood cellulose, rather than ring widths, it was possible to cross-match and date all 14 timber samples and to provide felling dates related to several phases of building. The hall and solar cross-wing were constructed shortly after 1420CE, which is remarkably early. The house was upgraded using timbers felled in the winter of 1695/6CE by ceiling over of the hall and inserting a chimney. A separate small domestic building was added at the same time and the addition of the kitchen is likely to be contemporaneous. A substantial beast house was added a few years before the house was refurbished, emphasising the importance of cattle as the main source of wealth. A small barn with timbers felled in spring 1843 CE was added later. Llwyn Celyn is one of the most important domestic buildings in Wales, but without the new approach none of the phases of its evolution could have been dated precisely. Oxygen isotope dendrochronology has enormous potential for dating timbers that have small numbers of rings and/or show severe growth disturbance and it works well in regions where tree growth is not strongly constrained by climate. The research was generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust, Natural Environment Research Council, Landmark Trust and the UK National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Highlights

Llwyn Celyn, in Cwmyoy (Fig. 1), close to the eastern border of South Wales (51.83N, 2.98W), is a remarkably complete and continuously occupied mediaeval house, of high status, that has survived almost unchanged since the late 17th century (Stanford, 2018a)
The rescue of Llwyn Celyn from dereliction coincided with the development of a new approach to dendrochronology, based on the chemistry of tree rings rather than their width, (Loader et al, 2019), and the results reported here represent the first attempt to date several building phases, of uncertain age, using the new method
A total of 42 core samples were taken from the house and outbuildings, but all failed to date using standard dendrochronology

Summary

Introduction

Llwyn Celyn, in Cwmyoy (Fig. 1), close to the eastern border of South Wales (51.83N, 2.98W), is a remarkably complete and continuously occupied mediaeval house, of high status, that has survived almost unchanged since the late 17th century (Stanford, 2018a). It originally comprised a three-bay hall with central hearth, open to the ornate roof, with service rooms at the lower end and a two-storey solar wing at the high end. The buildings surrounding the house include a substantial ‘beast house’, for over-wintering cattle, and a large threshing barn and later lower barn that were joined together by a fragmentary and enigmatic ‘linking structure’ that retained evidence of a domestic fireplace

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Conclusion