Paper 105-b:Paper 105-b:

The Black Death and Building: The Black Death and Building:

A Hampshire Case StudyA Hampshire Case Study

Richard HaddleseyRichard Haddlesey

The University of WinchesterThe University of Winchester

BackgroundBackground

• researching late medieval timber frame buildings in Hampshire (1200-1530)

• concerned with structural techniques and their chrono-typologies

• with an increased accuracy in dating methods, can the effects of the Black Death be seen in English carpentry?

• “dendrochronology is the most significant advance in dating buildings” [since c14] (Morriss 2000)

The Black DeathThe Black Death

• 1348-50 in England

• the population was cut by up to 50%

• Led to a rising middling class driven by a smaller workforce and increased wages

• Small, poorly built houses gave way to better built, larger ones that mimicked those of the Lords

• Space was are rare commodity pre Black Death and towns were crowded and filthy with retail units on split levels

HampshireHampshire

The Pentice at WinchesterThe Pentice at Winchester

33 34 3533 34 35

The Pentice at WinchesterThe Pentice at Winchester

• Keene’s detailed survey of Medieval Winchester in 1985 suggested the Pentice was built in one campaign

• James & Roberts however, used dendrochronology to question this theory in 2000

• By the mid-14th century nomenclature had changed to ‘sub penticio’, ‘subtus le Pentis’ inferring by this time the Pentice was a colonnaded walkway

• Dendrochronology suggests otherwise

35 High Street (Boots the Chemist)35 High Street (Boots the Chemist)

• Only the central bays remain and is presently fronted by a 15thC gabled frontage

• It lays parallel to the street front rather than at right angles

• 35 High Street is of a Wealden style and dates to 1339

• They exist predominantly in the Weald (east Sussex and west Kent) (Harris 1978, 65)

• Because it was a Wealden House built in 1339, it is safe to assume that there would not have been a covered walkway obscuring it

James & Roberts 2000, 189Harris 1978, 66

A table of buildings dated in the High StA table of buildings dated in the High St

1316 42 High St Winchester

133935 High St, Boots the

Chemist Winchester

1348-50 Black Death1348-50 Black Death

1459 33-34 High St Winchester

1462 101-102 High St, Godbegot Winchester

1508 43 High St Winchester

The High St. WinchesterThe High St. Winchester (1459, 1340 and 1316)

James & Roberts 2000, 198

Winchester High Street todayWinchester High Street today

A table of buildings dated in the High StA table of buildings dated in the High St

1316 42 High St Winchester

133935 High St, Boots the

Chemist Winchester

1348-50 Black Death1348-50 Black Death

1459 33-34 High St Winchester

1462 101-102 High St, Godbegot Winchester

1508 43 High St Winchester

Winchester Cathedral

Edington Priory Church, Wiltshire

• Immediately following the Black Death, The Bishop of Winchester commissioned the building of a Collegiate Chantry in Wiltshire to make provision for his soul

• It seems likely that such a building was in direct response to the sheer loss of life he would have witnessed during that time. Platt suggests, the almost military austerity of the church is due to the lack of available tradesmen (Platt 1996, 138-9)

The Hampshire evidence

• We shall now take a look at Hampshire as a whole

James (2001) suggests “the increase in rural wages as a result of labour shortages following the Black Death, seems to have brought a wave of rural house building in more substantial materials”

What evidence do we have for this?

HampshireHampshire

Buildings following the plagueBuildings following the plague

1348 – 1350 The Black Death hits Britain1348 – 1350 The Black Death hits Britain

1359 Trees Cottage Froxfield

1360 Tan-y-Bryn Hannington, Nr. Basingstoke

1363 Moysents, Bank St Bishops Waltham

1366 The Old Church House Odiham

1368 Lodge Farm Odiham

1370 Boarhunt Hall House Hampshire now Weald & Downland Museum

1382 Cruck Cottage North Warnborough

1388 Rookley Farmhouse Up Somborne

1390 St Catherine's Church Littleton

1390 Breach Farm Barn Sherfield-on-loddon

1392 10 The Close, Winchester

1393 The Old Vicarage Odiham

1395 Court House East Meon

1400 Shepherds Cottage / Oakholme North Warnborough

1400 Manisty Cottage Odiham

Baillie’s dendrochronological evidenceBaillie’s dendrochronological evidence

• Baillie suggests the “Black Death has a clear environmental context”

(Baillie 2006, 38-9)

• He sees a clear ‘slump’ in tree-ring patterns from AD 1333 to 1360 with a

sharp rise toward the end of the century from 1380 onwards (ibid)

• He also see’s a change in character in the timbers after the mid-fourteenth century. Whereas all the timbers felled in the phases up to 1370 had been long lived, those felled in the early to mid 15thc were

wide ringed and fast grown (ibid)

• This is reflected well in the Hampshire data as a hiatus on dated buildings occurs between 1347 and 1359 followed by a sharp rise in dated buildings from 1388 onwards

The effects of the dendro gap on Hampshire buildingsThe effects of the dendro gap on Hampshire buildings

• We know church architecture moves from the elaborate decorated to the simpler perpendicular

• We see a desire for less cramped and cleaner living in art and iconography (Lindley 1996, 126)

• With a gap of nearly two generations, does the carpentry change?

• Cecil Hewett claims the scarf joint is the most useful joint when trying to assign a date to a building (Hewett 1962, 240)

The Scarf jointThe Scarf joint

• Scarfs can be grouped into 3 main types of development in Hampshire

• Type 1 - splayed on the left (1249-1360)• Type 2 - halved in the centre (1400-1500)• Type 3 - mortised scarf on the right (1301-1528)

Hewett 1962

The Scarf jointThe Scarf joint

• The main characteristics of the development of the scarf joint are that it seems to regress in complexity

• Is this reverse of complexity a result of a loss of skilled workers?

Scarf joint Hewett’s date range

Hampshire date range

Type 1 (splayed

scarf)

c1180 - 1400 1249 - 1360

Type 2 (edge-halved)

c1375 onwards 1400 - 1500

Type 3 (mortised

scarf)

Not found in Hewett’s

work

1301 - 1528

Type 4 (socket scarf)

Not found in Hewett’s

work

1420 - 1448

Scarfs by percentageScarfs by percentage

Percentage of buildings with scarf joints

40%

60%

with scarfs

without scarfs

scarfs by type

17%

28%45%

10%

type 1

type 2

type 3

type 4

Thank you

Richard.Haddlesey@winchester.ac.uk

www.medievalarchitecture.net

Supervised by Prof Tom James, Dr K Wilkinson, Dr A Richardson and Mr E Roberts