Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Cruck and scribe workshops, what to study?

I've signed up for the cruck and scribe workshops at Heartwood School at the end of the summer. Can anybody recommend any study material for either topic? Thank you.

Hi Dave,

If you mention the name Betty Bunker to Jack that will get his attention. She produced rather a nice self published book - "Cruck Buildings" some time ago that features various rude crucks discovered and recorded by her in and around Derbyshire and North Yorkshire. Unfortunately this book is long out of print and is now exceedingly rare but Jack does have a copy !

Freddie Charles gives a good insight into cruck construction in his hardback book "Conservation of Timber Buildings" (ISBN 1-873394-17-9) where he includes some reprint material from his earlier paper made with Walter Horn re Leigh Court Barn and also from his softback book "Medieval cruck-building and its derivatives: A study of timber-framed construction based on buildings in Worcestershire" published in 1967 by The Society for Medieval Archaeology. Monographs; no.2 by F. W. B Charles. This too is also a rare book but can be found on Amazon at :-

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-cruck-b...4882&sr=1-9>

Madge Moran included quite a large number of cruck building drawings in her 2003 opus on "Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire" (ISBN 1-873827-93-8). John Crook provides an excellent chapter on crucks in "Hampshire Houses 1250 - 1700 - their dating and development" edited by Edward Roberts (ISBN 1-85975 633 6) which also contains some information from the earlier "Medieval Hall Houses of the Winchester Area (ISBN 0-86135011-1) by Elizabeth Lewis et all. Nina Jennings provides more information on rude crucks in her "Clay Dabbins - vernacular buildings of the Solway Plain" (ISBN 1-873124-38-3) and Nat Alcock's "CBA Research Report No 42 - Cruck Construction - an introduction and catalogue" (ISBN 0589-9036) is probably the essential reference guide for those considering undertaking any reserch and especially recording of crucks anywhere in the UK & Ireland. This too is out of print but I think that it is available to download for free as a pdf.

For practical guidance on how to build crucks sadly very little is available and one can only really turn to two sources - one is Jack Sobon and the other is Henry Russell with both having published articles in Timber Framing and Mortice and Tenon on this subject. I look forward to being corrected on this last point.

I continue with my own researches into this form of timber framed building construction and have prepared many 3D cruck models of buildings that I have recorded however publication of this material is I think still a long way off !

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken, your knowledge on book is abundant, I can only dream of having the book you have available I am assuming the ones listed you have on hand?

I attended a short day long episode of cruck building with Sobon and others at a past conference in Vermont a number of years ago. On my drive home I had started building in the virtual world, and by Christmas we had a small cruck frame up, a blacksmith shop, just under 12'x12'.

Books can and will inspire, hands on will take it to another level. You will have a ball, Dave.

Tim

Hi Dave,

You have now well and truly dropped yourself right in it ! We need to see a digi pic of you in your cruck blacksmith shop forging the drift pins !

Re books - when you see em - buy em !

Crucks are quite and enigma. Nobody really knows where the design idea came from. A few have postulated about the origins of crucks but the jury is still out. I have found that the best place to discover and read articles about the development of crucks is within the pages of the Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Group - but be warned this can be more than a little bitchy and the VAGers are not noted for taking prisoners !

Regards

Ken Hume

I've heard that some crucks have square holes near the bottom. It appears that these holes may have been used in the raising, perhaps as a place to insert a type of lever. Anyone else ever heard of this?

Hi Dale,

When researching the book references for Dave Shepard earlier today I came across a photo of same in Fredie Charles's book -"Conservation of Timber Framed Buildings". These square holes are not just restricted to crucks and can also be found in other types of early building especially large aisled barns. The reasons for these holes cannot now be proved absolutely but some have taken a stab at their likely use with most postulating that this has something to do with raising but that might not be the case.

I am sure that Cecil Hewett showed us some examples of these in the Barley Barn at Cressing Temple during a Guild visit some years ago. He makes reference to these raising holes (now plugged) in "English Historic Carpentry" page 62 where he provides his own explanation about how these were likely used albeit a little difficult to understand without the aid of a drawing.

I have also found plugged holes in the centre of the sides of large tie beams in early medieval buildings suggesting that they were probably gripped with tongs when being raised using a single point lift.

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken, thanks so much for the insight.
Dale

Ken, just to be clear, were you referring to me, Tim, when you replied, Dave?

Tim

Thank you for the references Ken. I'm pretty wound up about the whole thing, as you can imagine. I'm still very new to timber framing, although I have been exposed to it since a very young age through visiting barns and Eric Sloane's books. Sloane may have had a few misconceptions, but his books were accurate enough for me at the time.

I have before me my new TFG members packet, as well as Historic Timber Joinery, Timber Frame Joinery and Design, I and II, as well as my first copies of Timber Framing and Scantlings. Yes, I am in deep.

Hi Tim,

Senior moment ! Yes I got it wrong. My apologies for that incorrect address.

Still want to see the photos though !

Regards

Ken Hume