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Dendrochronology tree-ring research has been commissioned on over fifty standing buildings during the year, (see also section 4.16) mostly in relation to grant-aided repair projects or management needs, although time has also been devoted to research and publication projects. A major programme of work has been undertaken at Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire in connection with renovation and recording work. This has been particularly valuable because it has provided rare eighteenth-century tree-ring data. Work at Fyfield Hall, Essex, and Pembridge belltower, Herefordshire has provided new insights into particularly complex and important structures. We have also commissioned dendrochronology on twenty-five archaeological sites over the year, with the analysis of prehistoric timbers from the Wootton Quarr survey, Isle of Wight, and Shinewater, Eastbourne being particularly important.
The first phase of tree-ring research to create master sequences to enable the dating of vernacular buildings in Devon is nearing completion, with eleven buildings so far producing absolute dates. The earliest of these is the Rectory, Cheriton Bishop, whose timbers were felled in 1299-1300. Three similar and very impressive roof structures have been dated to within 25 years of each other: Rudge, Morchard Bishop, has timbers felled in 1316, Thorne, Clannaborough, 1319-20, and Bury Barton, Lapford, 1328-39. The farmhouse at Bury Barton is part of one of the most important complexes of vernacular buildings in Devon. The research initiative concerning the dating and provenancing of conifer timbers has also continued, the most recent success being the analysis of timbers from Danson House, Bexley, Kent (see also section 4.16 below). These have not only been dated to the mid-eighteenth-century but the likely source has been identified as southern Sweden.