The Surrey Dendrochronology Project
- Introduction
- Surrey Dendrochronology Project
- South Mole Valley Cluster
- East Guildford Cluster
- Godalming Cluster
Introduction
National trends in building activity inevitably conceal regional differences that can only be explained by detailed local studies. The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, England, (RCHME) medieval building dating project in Kent and Hampshire's Buildings Survey Group are examples of the growing number of county based research projects untilising the absolute dates provided by tree-ring dating to refine the typological and stylistic dating of buildings.
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In Surrey, owners have privately dated a growing number of buildings and the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory has carried out several relevant multi-building dendrochronology surveys. These include eight buildings around Surrey Heath, five buildings around Charlwood, and from the neighboring West Sussex six buildings in East Grinstead and six buildings from around Horsham. Following some of this earlier work by the Domestic Building Research Group (DBRG), a joint team project has now been formed.
Surrey Dendrochronology Project
The Surrey Dendrochronology Project is a joint venture by the Surrey Archaeological Society and the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), with further support of Surrey County Council to carry out a programme of dendrochronology within the County. The project aims through the dendrochronological dating of some 200 buildings to archive its objectives which are, briefly: to establish dating criteria for old buildings generally; to contribute to the work taking place nationally on trends in vernacular architecture; to support a wide range of historical and social research programs, and to involve local communities in their history.
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The assessment of a large number of buildings should enable not just their dating but also the examination of environmental and socio-economic issues that can rarely be addressed in the analysis of single buildings. The information derived from a large number of individual timbers (dated, undated and rejected) has great potential to further our understanding of the changing landscape, woodland management techniques and underlying environmental factors. One of the main objectives from an architectural view point is to develop a much more precise framework for the dating of timber buildings on technical and stylistic criteria than had been formerly been possible.
The DBRG has recorded in detail some 3400 old buildings in Surrey. This information assists a selection of buildings to represent all the major styles from each period, and include a number of period "key" features. The representative range of building types both within and between clusters were initially identified with the view of ascribing date ranges to key carpentry features within Surrey. The project hopes to provide refined criteria by which to more securely date whole groups of buildings and more accurately locate them in their historical context. Areas for sampling were identified by members of the Surrey Dendrochronology Project using the concept of "cluster" - a group of about 15 buildings in a definable locality. It was calculated that, to cover the County and obtain statistically significant results, some 15 clusters would be needed, leading to the total therefore of some 200 buildings.
South Mole Valley Cluster
Dendrochronological sampling of some 20 buildings in the area of the South Mole Valley took place in November 2003. The results of dendrochronological analysis of some nineteen buildings are now available as reports. Samples were taken from buildings in a total of 4 parishes. The reports available from each parish may be reviewed by clicking on the following parish names: Capel, Charlwood, Ockley and Newdigate.
This cluster includes many notable buildings, such as the church's of Charlwood, Newdigate and Capel. No report summaries will be produced on this web-site for these buildings, but the results of this project have been submitted for publication in VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE, V35.
East Guildford Cluster
Dendrochronological sampling of 13 buildings in the parishes of Albury, East Clandon, Gomshall and West Horsely took place in February/March 2004. The analysis of these buildings has been completed and the reports are now available.
Godalming Cluster
November 2004, saw the beginning of work on a third cluster based in and around Godalming. Reports on the first five buildings dated in this area: 1 Church Street, 3 Church Street, 57-59 High Street, 109 High Street and Jordans (Eashing) will soon be available.
For more details on the project and the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), see their web-site at: DBRG (Surrey)
Updated: 28/12/2006