SDO16738 - Riding House, Wolfeton House, Charminster, Dorset. Tree-ring analysis of further oak timbers.

‘Previous dendrochronological work at the Riding House, Wolfeton House, established that three original floor beams were from trees felled in the late sixteenth, or early seventeenth century and that timbers from the replacement roof were all from trees felled in, or around, AD 1720. As this could potentially be the earliest riding house in the country, further work was undertaken to attempt to refine these dates. Unfortunately, complete sapwood present on some original timbers did not survive sampling, but did allow further refinement of the date ranges previously obtained. Four floor beams appear likely to have all been felled before AD 1603 and most likely in the AD 1590s, whilst felling dates ranging from spring AD 1720 to winter AD 1720/21 have been obtained for roof timbers.’