The Carpentry of a Twelfth-Century Aisled Hall: Burmington Manor, Warwickshire

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Burmington Manor is a stone-walled aisled manor house with a timber arcade and timber posts for the central truss of the open hall. It also includes a high end first-floor chamber lit by a twelfth-century stone window. Its date has hitherto been uncertain, but has now been determined as 1194/5d. This was a little later than expected from its primitive carpentry. The main discovery from our further examination is that the central arcade posts are in two parts, the upper sections tenoned into sockets in the top of the capitals. The high end chamber was previously thought to be contained within a crosswing; this is now uncertain and the building may have continued in line with the twelfth-century window in a dormer. The unusual face-splayed scarf joint in the arcade plate has also been closely examined.