SDO14577 - Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Fiddleford Manor, Calf Close Lane, Sturminster Newton, Dorset

‘This building is especially known for its elaborate roofs in the Hall and Solar, thought to be contemporaneous and of late fourteenth-century origin. Three timbers from the Solar roof dated, though two are thought to have been derived from the same tree. The felling dates for the two trees involved are AD 1301-33 and AD 1324-56, suggesting a slightly earlier construction date than the time ownership of William Latimer, after AD 1355, to whom both roofs have traditionally been attributed. No timbers dated from the Hall roof. A main beam from the Buttery ceiling was felled after AD 1524, and three inserted ceiling beams in the Hall most likely form a single group of timbers felled in the winder AD 1553-4, at the end of a known period of remodelling of the property.’