Hello,
I am making a booklet to market myself with.
I wanted to give a breif yet concise history on Timber Framing and the revival in the usa. What is the oldest surviving Timber Frame structure? When did the revival begin? I am very concerned about the accuracy of the information I provide. I want it to hold up under scrutiny of TTRAG, etc. Any books or links would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Collin Beggs

good topic....
busy now but will participate asap
-Mark in Ontario.

here's a link to check

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/framing.html

crazy pioneers with thier axes, eh?

i can tell you that in my part of the world (central ontario, canada) timberframe barns are the most common frames, most around here built from 1850-1910 plenty of broadaxe work and also lots of sawn timber
the barn on our farm is half sawn and half hewn
the sawn wood is elm and the hewn wood is ash and pine, all the rafters are round balsam fir
those elm beams must have been a bitch to join....
please give us an update on your booklet as it would serve me also
-Mark.

The Faribanks house in Dedham is, I believe, the oldest framed house in the U.S. There are a number of early frames in around Boston and in the Connecticut River Valley. Abbott Lowell Cummings' book on the houses of Mass. Bay is a great resource. From what I know, the revival began in the mid to late 70s. Roughly speaking, Stuart Elliot had a book out in 1978 and Tedd Benson had one in 1979 or 1980. There was also a number of books printed in England. I have a lot more information; should you want, you could email me directly.

Hello Collin:
Seen your post concerning the oldest structure in the USA. I think that might be alittle hard to nail down truthfully, and be able to back up the information with facts without someone coming along and denouncing it. Maybe just talking about an "old structure" or a documented old frame, be it a house, barn, driveshed, or mill might be a safer approach.
I reproduced period structures for a number of years, and it is exceedingly hard to truly date them POSITIVELY.
If I can be of any help to you and your cause, I may be able to draw on my many years of research and hands on reproduction of some of the earliest buildings framed by the United Empire Loyalists who emigrated to Upper Canada beginning in 1784 near the end of the American War Of Independence
Richard

Thank you for the information information resources. Does anyone have information on the Ancient history of Timber Frame structures in Europe and other countries.
I have read in other Timber Frame books that the chair of King Tut was joined with mortice and tenon.
What is the oldest surviving Timber Frame in Europe/Earth?
I would like a world perspective time line on joined wooden shelters.

Thank you for the information and resources. Does anyone have information on the Ancient history of Timber Frame structures in Europe and other countries.
I have read in other Timber Frame books that the chair of King Tut was joined with mortice and tenon.
What is the oldest surviving Timber Frame in Europe/Earth?
I would like a world perspective time line on joined wooden shelters.

Collin, First, there are many good books on English framing. R. W. Brunskill has 2, at least, and Richard Harris' little book TIMBER FRAME BUILDINGS provides a great history. You could also access the Weald and Downland Open Air Musuem in the south of England. They have many restored frames, the earliest of which is from the 15th century. The question of identifying the oldest in Europe would be hard to come by as the tradition--if you include log structures-- goes from Scandinavia to southern Europe. In Norway there are extant stave churches from the 12th century, and there are small cities like Bamberg in Germany that are Meccas of timber framing. The Greek temples were originally in wood, and stone temples such as the Parthenon emulated much of the timber framing ( I think, for instance that modillions done in stone along the eaves represented earlier wooden rafters.) There is a lot of ground to cover. I do believe that the Fairbanks house is documented at 1636; Tedd Benson and some framers recreated this frame on Boston Common in 1979 or 1980 or thereabouts although I don't know where that frame is now. Good luck.

Hi Collin,

I think one of you best resources on mideval frames would be Patrick Hoffsummer from Belgium and Lynn Coutenay from Madison, Wisc. I went to thier talks at the last Eastern conference in Montebello. I think any academic discussion on dating frames would have to include dendrochronological dating in addition to design and construction artifacts that evolved with the technology. For instance many of the midevil cathedrals in france were built along rivers simply b/c timber could be easily transported. As such P. Hoffsumer documented the existance of pegs found in cathedral roofs that were used to tie timber booms together.
Anyway thier contacts are
phoffsummer@ulg.ac.be
and
ltcourte@facstaff.wisc.edu
Definitely check out Dr.P Hoffsumer's book Les Charpentes du XI au XIX Siecle
His research mainly covers Nothern France and Belgium but having a look at it gives one an idea of some of the techniques and clues to look for in your search and also help you critically analyze what you read in other litterature.

Good luck and have fun!

Ian :rolleyes:

Thank you for the information.
-Collin

Hi Collin,

I've also been intrigued by this question for a long time. There was a speaker at a Guild conference many years ago who had done extensive research on the subject. I don't remember her name or affiliation, I think she was a scholar of sorts. She showed slides of the roof system in a building she dated to AD 500-something, on the Sinai Peninsula as I recall, and associated with a monastery, with masonry walls. It appeared to be a well-engineered truss, not at all basic or experimental looking. I wonder if Joel, Will, or another long-timer could back that up?

I've also seen in print the claim that remains of buildings preserved in peat-bogs in England or Ireland dating to about 4000 BC contain mortice and tenon joints. Sorry I can't give you the source [not because I'd have to kill you then, but I don't remember].

As I walked through a gallery in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia years ago, dazed by the enormous variety of Old Master artwork, suddenly a painting jumped off the wall at me. It showed Jesus and Joseph, his father, busily working on a large timber on horses. I think it dated to the 1400's. Sorta ran a chill up my spine.

Leon

Thank you Leon, wonderful information. There is so much to learn about this craft on a world scale.
-Collin

Leon, I believe the presenter was Dr. Lynn Courtenay of the Univ. of Wis. My memory agrees basically with you except the dating I think is earlier to the 4th cent late Roman Empire or very early Eastern Roman Empire. The truss system was said to be the oldest known truss in continuous use. It was a variant on the king post truss in which the king post did not tie to the bottom chord. A Victorian busy body decided that the truss would not ultimately work so he added iron strapping to connect the king post to the tie chord. Perhaps Dr. Courtenay has published an account on the roof system.

Hi Roger & Leon,

I was in the Sheldonean Theatre roof in Oxford university yesterday and it is equipped with 70 foot wide clear span trusses equipped with king (centrally mounted) and queen (outboard mounted) posts. This building was the first significant commission undertaken by Christopher Wren at the age of 31, being built over the period 1664 - 7 and comes with iron strapping connecting the posts to tie beams as standard. I suppose that this is just a little bit pre victorian. Good reference is made to other cathedral type trusses employing metalwork in Cecil Hewett's English Historic Carpentry.

Re much earlier timber buildings the (alder) posts or more correctly piles of crannog type buildings are still able to be seen below water level and above loch (lake) bottom and this type of building is probably of the age 2000 to 4000 years old. These are present in Scotland and Ireland which is not really a surprise since the Scots originally came from Ireland.

Taking a liesurely stroll across from the Sheldonean Theatre to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford it is possible to view examples of Egyptian coffins which have been constructed using mortice and tenon joints together with examples of Egyptian hand held saws.

I guess that there really is nothing much new under the sun.

Regards

Ken Hume

Collin, From our travels in recent years to Italy & Sicily we observed many ornate timberframe roof trusses in churches converted from former Greek temples circa 1-99 AD. The age of the trussses seemed to average 400-700 years according to local "authorities" when asked. Hadrian was probably the most prolific Roman builder and many of his remaining structures have tf roof systems of unknown age. Have not tried (yet) to validate their input.
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