Hi Dave,

The elm used might well be either English Elm (Ulmus Procera) or Wytch Elm (Ulmus Glabra)- its very difficult to say which for sure. I had both of these species growing in my woodland which is less than 10 miles from this cruck framed building until 2 years ago when they secumbed to Dutch Elm disease again and are all now standing dead snags. These trees were last killed by dutch elm disease back in 1973/4 and have since then sprouted back from the roots which remain unaffected. My trees reached approximately the same size in 30+ years as has been employed in this cruck and so Dutch elm disease might be nothing new. The heartwood timber of this tree is entirely unaffected by this blight. The Dutch Elm disease fungus results in a tyloses of the growing cells in much the same way as happens in oak so it might well be that this disease inadvertently contribute towards its apparent longevity ?



I am attaching a cross section photo of the cruck concerned so that you get a better impression of the tree sizes employed. These are not much greater than 7 inches across the (flat) face though the diameter will be greater.

Please also check out the thatch which has at least 5 distinct layers showing. I measured the width of the thatch that extends out from the rear of this property to be just under 5 feet.

Regards

Ken Hume