Medieval Buildings - into the woods

Trees and, by default, wood have been around for a long time (millions of years, but who’s counting?!).  It’s a great resource which was readily available and versatile which is why people have been using wood for thousands of years – it’s a handy resource for making stuff.

By the Medieval period (1066 – 1539), quite a lot of woodland had been cleared for farmland.  That timber was used in the Saxon period (410 – 1066) to make Scandinavian-type post and plank buildings which used a lot of wood.

Plank built building - St Andrew's Church
Greensted, Essex
Image from: SiGarb [Public domain]

Stone and brick was expensive because it had to be quarried or made and transported to the site, which could be quite some distance away.  So wood was still the material of choice for the Medieval builder.  There was still a lot of woodland around, so it wouldn’t have to be transported over long distances.  However, there wasn’t quite enough wood to keep building in the old way…

So instead they would create the frame or structure of the building from timber and then fill in the empty spaces between the wood with other cheap materials.  This is known as a timber framed building (and it was very cost effective!).

You can see some parts of timber frame buildings on display at Hull and East Riding Museum.  

Timber frame wall from 85 Queen Street, Hull
(c) Hull Museums: Hull and East Riding Museum

Part of a wall timber frame was rescued from Queen Street in Hull when the building was demolished in the 1970s.  You can see the gaps between the timbers which would have been filled with laths or boards and then plastered over in the 1400s.  Later on these gaps were filled in with bricks – this doesn’t work as well with the timber as they are heavy, adding pressure to the frame.  They also retain moisture which is bad for the frame and are a poor insulator.  This possibly explains why some of the timbers were rotting when the building was demolished.

Timber from the entrance to George Yard, Hull
(c) Hull Museums: Hull and East Riding Museum

The museum also has these amazing timbers from the entrance to George Yard (High Street, Hull) on display too.  You can see the intricate carvings on the posts, which date the posts to around 1475.  Later on, in the nineteenth century the timbers were painted over seven times to protect the wood from weather damage!  The timbers were saved during the demolition of buildings damaged during the Second World War.

If you’d like to come and see the timbers, they are on display in the Medieval Gallery in Hull and East Riding Museum.  We’ll be exploring these objects further in our ‘Medieval Buildings’ gallery talk at 12.30pm on Monday 6^th January 2020, Wednesday 4^th March 2020 and Friday 1^st May 2020.