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Abstract
Joggle-head king-post roofs from the mid Tudor period are not well known, but at Lacock there are four of them. This paper examines the constructional details of this form of roof and the benefits they provided in transferring compression laterally and maximising usable loft space. It focuses on one roof, that over the Abbey Barn, recently tree-ring dated to 1575-80. That such an expensive type of roof should be present over a utilitarian building, a stable block, has attracted some comment but no explanation has hitherto been forthcoming. Close examination of the roof suggested it had been re-used and a sketch of the abbey buildings made in 1684 suggests that it might have belonged to the now lost west range of Lacock Abbey.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)
Notes
1 The Abbey Barn was converted by the National Trust into a museum and reception area in 1974.
2 Yeomans, Trussed Roof; and see Yeomans and Riall, “Tudor King Post Roofs.” The Abbey Barn is not mentioned in the latter discussion as its dating was not available when this paper was written.
3 The note in Riall, “King Post Roof at Place Farm,” appears to be the first time that the four roofs and their import were discussed together in a single note.
4 Hewett, English Historic Carpentry, 187.
5 Gregory, “The Queen’s House.”
6 Tim Potts has written a short booklet on this roof, published by the Carpenters Fellowship, but it has not been widely disseminated. Photographs of this roof can be found in the index page here https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/306/images?term = St%20David%27s%20cathedral.
7 Published anonymously as a short note in the Surrey Archaeological Society’s Bulletin in 2018, https://www.surreyarchaeology.org.uk/content/place-farm-place-farm-road-bletchingley; see now Riall, “King Post Roof at Place Farm.”
8 Miles in Vernacular Architecture, 39 (Citation2008): 142–3.
9 Miles and Bridge, “Tree-Ring Dating of the Queen’s House”; the author is grateful to Dr Alden Gregory for providing copies of the reports on work undertaken on this building.
10 Howard, “Lacock Abbey.”
11 Moir Citation2009; and see Greening Citation2010.
12 The roof of Porch House was surveyed by the author in November 2021, and recorded in Riall Citation2021
13 Bob Hooke of Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England commissioned the dendrochronological survey.
14 The RCHME survey of Lacock Abbey was undertaken in the 1980s, their survey records are held by English Heritage in Swindon.
15 Howard, “Lacock Abbey,” who reviewed his calculations in 2021, at this author’s request, and was happy to confirm his original findings.
16 Howard, “Lacock Abbey,” 8. He commented, ‘It appears that the timbers of the south end of the east range were felled a year or so before the timbers of the west end of the north range, but this is a very tentative conclusion.’ It may be noted that the carpenter’s marks in the east range differ from those in the north range (pers. obs.) which suggests Howard’s conclusions were probably correct.
17 David Yeomans, pers. comm.
18 Dingley’s manuscript was not published until 1867 following its discovery in a private library in Gloucestershire in the nineteenth century.
19 Talbot, “Lacock Abbey,” disparages with some acidity the vandalism of the house by his ancestor.
20 The plaster appears to have fallen off the building over the years, although it was somewhat intact in the later nineteenth century. Photographs from the mid nineteenth century show some of this tracery, for which see National Trust Images at: https://www.nationaltrustimages.org.uk/image/557371
21 Dickins and Stanton, Eighteenth Century Correspondence, 301. Meg Sims, pers. comm., noted an entry in Ivory Talbot’s accounts books, for December 1729, which states, ‘converted ye great Stable to a barn, ye further part for ye farmer ye Littler part for my own use.’
22 Meg Simms, unpublished report. Her notes are extracts from John Ivory Talbot’s account book for 1728–36, in Wiltshire & Swindon Archives, under ref. 2664/2/2B/8.
23 At a recent date the underside of the roof was covered in plasterboard which has concealed much of the upper parts of the joggle-head king posts. Nevertheless, it is still possible to see part of the underside of these posts, definitively demonstrating their type and form.
24 None of the tiebeams that have mortices for floor joists have been dated through tree-ring dating.
25 It has not been possible to access this part of the building.
26 The roof at the east end of the Abbey Barn has not been dated through dendrochronology.
27 Arnold and Howard, Citation2022.
28 Fuidge, History of Parliament.
29 Fuidge, ibid.
30 Most reference works, including Fuidge, incorrectly state that Lacock was the setting in which Sharington was knighted. Marion Colthorpe, in her exhaustive study of the daily life of Elizabeth I, provides the details that show Sharington was knighted alongside three other men in Salisbury on 9 September 1574, https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/mediawiki/media/images_pedia_folgerpedia_mw/5/54/ECDbD_1574.pdf
31 This structure remains something of an enigma, and awaits detailed study, although it has been seen and photographed by this author. Much of it is hidden behind modern partitions.
32 Robert Howard, pers. comm., reviewed his 1989 findings in 2021 at the request of this author and has confirmed his original dating.
33 Description from Serafini and González-Longo, “Design and Construction Techniques,” who offer some useful insights into the use of king-post trusses.
34 David Yeomans, pers. comm.
35 The author is grateful to an anonymous reviewer for raising this point.
36 On this roof, see now Yeomans and Riall, “Tudor King Post Roofs,” 90–1.
37 Gregory, “Queen’s House,” offers the most up-to-date analysis of the Queen’s House.
38 Summerson, Architecture in Britain, 31 and 42; and see Girouard, Biographical Dictionary, 96, for a brief biography.
39 Harvey, English Medieval Architects, 51 offers a brief mention of him, as does Summerson, Architecture in Britain, 31 and 42. Girouard, Biographical Dictionary, offers the most up-to-date biography, if somewhat lacking in detail and with some errors of interpretation; Riall, “John Chapman.”
40 Girouard, Biographical Dictionary, 89.
41 Girouard, Biographical Dictionary, 89.
42 Greening, “Place Farm.”
43 Further survey work is required to clarify this point, as some of the East range king posts are secured into the tiebeam by a secondary set of pegs, the upper pair having been cut through to provide a groove for floorboarding.
44 The initials PK and PH and date 28/10/58 are crudely scratched on the purlin. The National Trust have no details regarding this work, which presumably relates to repairs made to the roof and the roof frame.
45 Arnold and Howard, Citation2022.
46 The eastern end of the North range has, on its right-hand timbers, doubled sets of numerals; one set the directly above the other.
47 A useful essay on these marks and their nomenclature is provided by James, “Carpenters’ Assembly Marks.”
48 James, “Carpenters’ Assembly Marks,” 5, observed that a difference mark was usually found on the right. This may well need to be tested against more fieldwork, but it is certainly the case at Lacock that in the East range and Abbey Barn roof marks of difference appear on the left, in the North they are on the right.
49 Race knives are discussed in James, “Carpenters’ Assembly Marks,” 13–15. These tools were also used extensively to create ‘cargo’ marks on Baltic oak, for which see Rief, “Engraved Marks,” 127–31.
50 The carpenter’s marks on truss 8 were filmed using a camera hoisted up on a monopod.
51 The tiebeams in the east range are mostly not now covered by floorboards, thus the groove for floorboards cut into the top of the tiebeams is visible ().
52 Cartographic evidence from 1714 and 1764 shows that entry passage into Stable Court was quite short, at less than 8 m long.
53 Howard, “Lacock Abbey,” shows that all the woodwork associated with the nunnery was completed by c. 1476, with a new roof over the frater.
54 Talbot, “Lacock Abbey.”
55 This monumental entry and an external terrace will be explored in Riall, “John Chapman.”
56 A transcript of this inventory is given in Vernon, “Inventory.” The inventory lists an extensive collection of hangings of various grades of value, ranging from 1s. to 5s. 6d. the sticke.
57 Colthorpe, Elizabethan Court.
58 Vernon, “Inventory,” 75.
59 The literature covering Longleat is very extensive, with some useful coverage of Longleat now to be found in Girouard, Elizabethan Architecture.
60 Howard, “Lacock Abbey”; he revisited his calculations in 2021 and confirmed to the author that he remained confident in his original conclusions.