Sunday, 27 December 2015

Dendrochronology

I was very pleased to see a news story on the BBC a few days ago about the start of a study in Powys to find out how old some historic buildings are by looking at the timbers they are build with. Dendrochronology has a pretty good track record of accuracy, and can even show which season of the year a tree was cut down.
The Three Tuns pub in Hay is one of the buildings to be tested - probably built at the beginning of the 16th century - and the gates of Hay Castle, which are thought to be 12th century, and the oldest castle gates in Wales. Some testing has already been done on the Jacobean part of Hay Castle, which was thought to have been built in 1660, but has now been proved to be earlier.
Elsewhere in Powys, Tretower Castle is also one of the buildings that will be tested.
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3 comments:

  1. Sara And Heart29 December 2015 at 07:12

    So glad I found your blog, I work in the Antiques market in Hay and it's lovely to learn more about this very special place. There's no where else quite like Hay

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  2. Eigon29 December 2015 at 09:57

    Thank you! I love your animal heads!
    I've also now added a link to your blog, under the heading Blogs I Like.

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  3. Anonymous30 December 2015 at 13:06

    Déjà vu
    Tue 2 Mar 2010 BBC Hidden Histories
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/localhistory/hidden_histories/episode_1_castle.shtml
    http://www.castlestudiesgroup.org.uk/CSGJournal2010-11X4Doors.pdf
    Let's hope this second survey on older fragments in the Gates Bar hole yield some conclusive results?

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