Aisled Hall Research Articles

A Database of Aisled Buildings in England and Wales

The Vernacular Architecture Group Aisled Buildings Database is described. It contains entries for 391 aisled halls and 2,127 aisled barns, with a handful of other aisled buildings. Their distribution and dating are presented, and the remarkable 700-year date-span of aisled barns is emphasised. Individual features of the buildings in the database are summarised, including the number of bays and the roof types recorded for halls and barns.

The Romanesque Roof Structure of Westminster Hall

Little direct evidence remains for the original 1090s roof structure of Westminster Hall. The prevailing view has been that, until its replacement in the 1390s, the interior must have been divided by aisles to support the very wide span of the roof. This view was challenged by Roland Harris and Daniel Miles in 2013, with a proposal for a clear-spanning roof structure, which would be quite exceptional for the period. This article uses evidence from both Westminster and comparable buildings to explore the feasibility of alternative structural forms in some detail, with reconstruction drawings. Significant problems are encountered with all of the alternative forms, leading to a strong affirmation of the theory proposed by Harris and Miles. The Norman hall at Westminster was planned and roofed without internal arcades or piers, whether of timber or masonry. Westminster Hall thus played no part in the development of the English aisled hall.

A Hint of Exeter's Hinterland and Port: A New Large Aisled Hall Building at Wessex Close, Topsham, Devon

ABSTRACTA large aisled hall building excavated at Topsham, near Exeter, Devon, dates to the late second and third centuries a.d. and would have been used simultaneously for domestic accommodation, crop processing, fish sauce making, industrial activities and storage. Its large size is unique in the hinterland of Roman Exeter and this is almost certainly due to its prime position next to both the Exe estuary and the Roman road between Topsham and Exeter. The issues raised in regard to the relationship between Exeter and its hinterland are discussed.

Community and the Creation of Provincial Identities: A Re-interpretation of the Romano-British Aisled Building at North Warnborough

The aisled hall at North Warnborough has attracted attention as one of a handful of examples frequently included in surveys and analyses of this common architectural type as well as for arguments related to the gendered use of space. This article presents a new architectural analysis of this building and attempts to set it within its immediate and wider archaeological and geological landscape context. A theoretically informed interpretation of the social significance of this site is offered, which has broader implications for the studies of Romano-British architecture, rural settlement, and landscape.

BAYTHORNE HALL, A RAISED-AISLED HALL IN BIRDBROOK, ESSEX, AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RAISED-AISLED HALLS

Baythorne Hall is an isolated raised-aisled hall in north-west Essex, tree-ring dated to 1341, making it the earliest of the three raised-aisled halls that have been dated so far. Raised-aisled halls are buildings where the arcade posts are raised up on to a dropped tiebeam on the centre truss of the open hall, thus clearing the open hall of arcade posts. They are not the same as roof types that look like aisled structures raised up on to normal assembly tiebeams, a number of which were constructed considerably earlier than Baythorne Hall. Baythorne was originally published as a conventional aisled hall, long before it was realised that it was a raised-aisled hall. Although this fact is well known in East Anglia, the purpose of this article is to provide a printed correction of its status, to compare it with the other two dated raised-aisled halls, and to consider the purpose of the raised-aisle truss in the centre of the open hall.

Hall and Chambers: Oakham Castle Reconsidered

The late twelfth-century aisled hall at Oakham Castle, Rutland, is well known as the earliest and most complete building of its type in England. This study, based on detailed fabric analysis and little-known excavations of the 1950s, puts forward a new theory for the building's development. It is proposed that the original hall had attached lean-to buildings at both gable ends, probably built of timber, housing services and other lesser rooms. Like other early halls, the principal chamber at Oakham took the form of a free-standing chamber block, some of whose features have been later incorporated in the surviving hall, including its great east window. Tree-ring dating has shown that, although the roof was rebuilt around 1737, many original timbers survive from the 1180s. A comparative study of other early halls is made, to set Oakham into its wider Anglo-Norman context.

No. 173 High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire: An Analysis of a Thirteenth-Century Urban Timber-Framed Building

Recent analysis and dendro-dating have established that No. 173, High Street, Berkhamsted, rather than serving as a shop as had hitherto been thought, was most likely the jettied service wing to a now lost aisled hall house, and among the oldest jettied ranges surviving in an urban context (last quarter of the thirteenth century). It also represents an early example of the transition in carpentry technology from the use of passing braces to crown posts.

Small Aisled Halls in Essex

The domestic aisled hall is a building type which has long attracted interest. This paper examines twenty-three of the humbler examples on a comparative basis and attempts to plot an evolutionary sequence. Dendrochronology has provided some useful dates (see List 137 in this volume, pp.101–02), an interesting spin-off being the discovery of non-oak timbers in several of the houses. Size, status, location and landholding are also considered, but it is apparent we still have too little data to come to any definitive conclusions.

Small Aisled Halls in Essex

The domestic aisled hall is a building type which has long attracted interest. This paper examines twenty-three of the humbler examples on a comparative basis and attempts to plot an evolutionary sequence. Dendrochronology has provided some useful dates (see List 137 in this volume, pp.101–02), an interesting spin-off being the discovery of non-oak timbers in several of the houses. Size, status, location and landholding are also considered, but it is apparent we still have too little data to come to any definitive conclusions.

Le Manoir Des Vallées at Barneville-La-Bertran, Normandy

An early thirteenth-century aisled hall and chamber-block has recently been recognised at Barneville-la-Bertran in the Pays d'Auge. Stone-walled with timber aisle posts, the hall was largely replaced by a timber-framed two-storey range in c. 1500, and both this and the chamber-block were later further modified. One of the five complexes of 'hall and chamber-block' derivation in Normandy where parts of both elements survive, it offers important evidence of its use in the Duchy, and of the development and interpretation of the type itself. Doorways at the 'low' end of the hall are reminiscent of service doorways, and the surviving elements may have been accompanied by a service-block, either timber-framed or free-standing. Barneville represents a stage in the development of the 'hall and chamber-block' tradition, which can also be identified in England, but which in Normandy was the last: after c. 1250 Norman houses which included an open hall had other characteristics belonging to a more widespread northern French type which shared little or nothing with English practice.

Le Manoir Des Vallées at Barneville-La-Bertran, Normandy

An early thirteenth-century aisled hall and chamber-block has recently been recognised at Barneville-la-Bertran in the Pays d'Auge. Stone-walled with timber aisle posts, the hall was largely replaced by a timber-framed two-storey range in c. 1500, and both this and the chamber-block were later further modified. One of the five complexes of 'hall and chamber-block' derivation in Normandy where parts of both elements survive, it offers important evidence of its use in the Duchy, and of the development and interpretation of the type itself. Doorways at the 'low' end of the hall are reminiscent of service doorways, and the surviving elements may have been accompanied by a service-block, either timber-framed or free-standing. Barneville represents a stage in the development of the 'hall and chamber-block' tradition, which can also be identified in England, but which in Normandy was the last: after c. 1250 Norman houses which included an open hall had other characteristics belonging to a more widespread northern French type which shared little or nothing with English practice.

Fyfield Hall: a Late Twelfth-Century Aisled Hall Rebuilt c. 1400 in the Archaic Style

Fyfield Hall, a timber-framed aisled hall in Essex, has been tree-ring dated to 1167–85. It was built with passing braces, notched lap joints and curved arcade braces, and underwent major repairs between 1391 and 1416, when the central arcade posts, arcade plates and braces were replaced, but, curiously, in a late twelfth-century style with passing braces. To repair the building in the archaic style might seem surprising, but tree-ring dating shows that such developments were not unusual. This study examines the building in detail and looks at later developments on the site.

Le Manoir de Saint Lô, Aclou

Abstract The discovery, not far from Rouen, of an aisled and base-cruck hall carrying a crown-post and collar-purlin roof very similar to those common in south-eastern England raises important historical questions. Can this building, incorporating features seemingly much more characteristic of English than French work, have been the work of English carpenters? Nothing of the well-documented history of the manor supports such an explanation. However, although careful search suggests it may be possible to find distant French parallels, no exact equivalent has yet been found on French soil. Possibly here is further evidence that many architectural ideas, eventually with strong regional concentrations, began by being thinly but widely scattered, an idea first propounded by Eric Mercer. Perhaps the striking differences between the vernacular architecture of north-western France and south-eastern England only developed after the severing of political ties following the final disappearance of the 'Angevin Empire...

Baguley Hall, Manchester: The Structural Development of a Cheshire Manor House

Baguley Hall near Manchester has long been recognized as one of the finest surviving medieval halls in the north-west of England. As a part of an extensive English Heritage programme of repair to the standing structure, opportunity was taken to make a more detailed study of its timber-framing and also to excavate within and immediately outside the building. As a result, this paper seeks to modify the existing published accounts of the hall's timberwork, outline its likely structural sequence, and provide details of the aisled hall that preceded it.

Wynter's Armourie: A Base-Cruck Hall in Essex & its Significance

Abstract This article shows first that Wynter's Armourie in Essex definitely had a base-cruck truss when first built, and then outlines the three subsequent major stages of development of the house from a base-cruck open hall to its late seventeenth-century form. The house is listed as having a base-cruck truss but there was some uncertainty as the truss had been considerably altered in the late fourteenth or fifteenth century when the 'aisles' were heightened and reduced in width. Similar alterations were made to a number of aisled halls and this may offer one possible clue as to why so few base crucks have been found in Essex.

The Vernacular Architecture of France: An Assessment

AbstractFrance, a country rich in the variety of its culture and natural resources, displays a greatly varied vernacular architecture. Building materials, stone, timber and clay, are present in abundance. Walling is of earth, stone and timber frame; roofing of thatch, tile, stone and wood shingle. Roof construction is varied and includes the aisled form as well as king-post, collar-and-tie-beam, coupled-rafter and cruck trusses. The 'open' hall with its central hearth was widely known in medieval times but the enclosed hearth and chimney stack were well established by the end of the Middle Ages. The single-cell house was a common form of accommodation for families without livestock. In the north, north-west and south-west the long-house, providing accommodation for man and beast under the same roof, existed. The first-floor hall, over a store, byre, lower chamber or open arcade, is widely distributed and associated with the upper social classes. Other types include the aisled hall which survives over most...

The Cruck-Built Barn of Frocester Court Farm, Gloucestershire, England

Structural analysis, supported by radiocarbon and tree-ring measurements, discloses that the timbered roof of the great Tithe Barn of Frocester, in Gloucestershire, England, does not date-as formerly believed-from the time of John de Gamages, abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter's in Gloucester (1284-1306), but is a postmedieval reconstruction of the original roof that perished in a fire early in the 16th century. On the other hand, the masonry walls from which this roof rises are those of the original structure. In medieval cruck construction the roof-supporting trusses were fully assembled on the ground (or in the case of "raised" crucks as in Frocester, on temporary platforms erected for that purpose) and from there reared into vertical position with the aid of pullies and ropes. The walls from which these trusses rose were brought to their full height only after this was done. The analysis of the roof of Frocester tells us a lot about the difficulties postmedieval builders encountered in this type of construction when facing the task of inserting the timbers of a new roof individually from above into an already completed system of walls. Although erected in a wholly unmedieval manner, the postmedieval roof of Frocester, however, may in design and general appearance be a literal copy of the original roof. In medieval England the cruck-truss found its densest distribution in territories settled primarily by Celtic peoples (west and Midlands). Its elegant curvilinearity was of special attraction to the Celtic mind. In the Lowlands with their overwhelming Anglo-Saxon and Norman population, the great aisled barns and halls of the Middle Ages were built in straight timbers in the traditional form of their continental homelands.

The Bishop of Winchester's Medieval Manor House at Harwell, Berkshire, and its Relevance in the Evolution of Timber-Framed Aisled Halls

This paper is based on the lecture given to the Institute at the Society of Antiquaries of London on 18 October 1972. It concerns the discovery in 1967 in a house in the village of Harwell of the aisled hall, formerly in the curia of the medieval manor of the Bishop of Winchester, for which the Pipe Rolls for most of the years from 1208 to 1450 exist. The earliest phase of which parts survive consisted of a framed building with passing-braces built in the twelfth or early thirteenth century. The evolution of this form of timber dwelling with oak is traced from continental, probably lower Rhineland, structures of the ninth and tenth centuries. The long timbers used as passing braces are likely to have been derived from buildings in southern Germany which used conifers such as fir, timber that in turn had a long history from Roman times.

Excavations on the Site of the Baths Basilica at Wroxeter 1966-1974: An Interim Report

The complex of the public baths at Wroxeter (that part of the site at present open to the public) was entered from a great basilican hall through doors in the Old Work, the standing north wall of the frigidarium of the baths (A on FIG. 1). Earlier excavations, beginning with Thomas Wright's in 1859 and extending at intervals up to the present day, have shown that the basilica was an aisled hall (B) 73 m (240 ft.) long and 20 m (65 ft.) broad with a portico (C) extending the whole length of its northern side. At its east end was an annexe with a small additional room in one corner. At the west end (D) Thomas Wright found evidence of an entrance ‘with a considerable amount of architectural ornamentation’. The south aisle and the nave were paved with tiles arranged in a herring-bone pattern, but the north aisle was divided into compartments with mosaic floors, some of which were removed in the nineteenth century. North of the portico ran a street which bounded the baths insula.

Excavations at Fishbourne, 1967: Seventh and Final Interim Report

The last major season in the present series of excavations at Fishbourne took place between 29th July and 2nd September, with a labour force restricted to sixty volunteers a day. This year the main effort was concentrated upon the excavation of the garden belonging to the Flavian Palace: a substantial area was examined during the main period of work, but it was not until the early spring that the final stages were completed by a small team of volunteers working in conjunction with a mechanical excavator. Several other areas were examined during the summer. By great good fortune a small site became available for study on the south side of the modern main road, providing for the first time clear evidence that the Palace possessed a South Wing. On the main site, the east front of the aisled hall was excavated together with the early levels beneath it, and further work was undertaken on the west front of the entrance hall. Finally, some time was spent finishing details of the excavation of the area lying north of the West Wing and west of the North Wing—a site which in the previous spring had been almost totally excavated, prior to the building of the site Museum and concourse.