Timber-framed houses along Friar Street in Worcester- wonky buildings, planning using geometry and the daisy wheel

Worcester has quite a few surviving timber-framed buildings and many of them can be found along Friar Street, in the city centre. Halfway along the street is Greyfriars, which was built in 1480 as a merchant's house and has been in the care of the National Trust since 1966: 

Not as old (but also looking great) is the facade of this pub on the corner of the street.

One thing that I noticed was how wonky the jettied first floors on some of the buildings were...

The building in the lower photo shown above makes me wonder if the builders got hold of the longest suitable piece of oak that they could find to support the front wall of the first floor and then built the rest around it. The slope on the first floor of the building in the photo above it makes me wonder if they had just been on the ciders beforehand!

When these timber-framed buildings were constructed, timber didn't usually come in regular sizes. Since everything had to be cut, split or hewn by hand, carpenters would make use of what they had available and so if a beam was a bit uneven, that would just be accounted for when building around it. 

I went to a very interesting talk by Laurie Smith a while ago. He is an expert on the geometrical methods that builders used to plan constructions throughout much of history. 

When factors such as irregular sizes of materials meant that exact measurements using units such as inches were not as useful in planning a construction, things were laid out using geometry.

Laurie Smith showed us how proportions and angles were worked out using simple geometrical techniques, meaning that they could be planned using just a ruler, a pair of compasses and a scribe (such as a piece of chalk). 

At one point, he remarked that he enjoyed looking at old buildings and working out how they had been altered from their original form over time. This could be done by a knowledge of the use of geometry in planning. He could tell if a gable had been removed or rooms added because they didn't follow the patterns that were easy to spot if one has the knowledge of these procedures.

One reminder of these planning techniques that can be seen in some old buildings is a 'daisy wheel', like this one from Court Farm at Himbleton in Worcestershire:

Image from: http://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2014/10/averting-evil-evidence-from.html

Some believe that these daisy wheels were used to ward off evil in old buildings. Laurie Smith said to me that he hadn't delved into that possible side of their history, but that they certainly were an example of a design used in planning geometry as well.

A pub on Friar Street called 'The Cardinal's Hat' proclaims that it is 'Worcester's Oldest Inn'.  

Apparently there has been a pub on the site since the fourteenth century, when the inn catered to pilgrims and visitors to the nearby Friary (which ended with the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII). The current building dates to the mid-seventeenth century and I took a moment to check out the carvings in the spandrels around the front door. These are over a window to one side:

These carvings are over the main entrance. I wonder if the letters 'D' and 'CB' refer to the pub's owners at the time, the carvers or to something else?

A day in Leigh Woods; Burwalls cave, Luke Jerram's stranded boats and a wooden sofa

Leigh Woods runs along one side of the Avon Gorge near Bristol and is home to some very rare species of trees and plants. I went there a few days ago with a friend of mine, Duncan.

First we visited the legendary Burwalls Cave. This cave is quite a scramble to get to, but it's worth it. When we went, the ramsons (also called wild garlic) were covering the woodland floor, giving the mild garlicky smell that always means 'summer is coming' to me.

The cave itself is just under where Burwalls House now sits at one end of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Before the mansion and the bridge were built, there was an Iron Age hill fort there.

Although some of the cave looks natural, I'm sure that other parts were dug out, built up and remodelled to make the place more like a grotto when such things were fashionable. The Bristol area has a couple of other notable grottoes, including ones at Goldney House and Warmley. 

Unfortunately, the cave was a mess when we arrived, with old sleeping bags and rubbish all over the place.  There were no signs of any current occupants either.

 

We couldn't really leave it in such a state, so we bagged up the rubbish and piled away the camping gear (being very watchful for discarded needles, of which there didn't seem to be any luckily). It was a real shame to see such a great spot, that many people have enjoyed finding for the first time, left full of discarded junk. Often before there has been cooking equipment and similar useful items left there tidily for other visitors to use, but this was different.

It looked a lot better afterwards, and in one dark corner we were rewarded by coming across a roosting bat. We also let the rangers, who look after the cave, know what was there. Hopefully it will be in a more welcoming state now.

 

After a bit of a mad scramble to get back to the parapet of the Suspension Bridge, we walked up into Leigh Woods. It was good to be there again, especially at this time of year when everything is gearing into summer.  The visit also gave an opportunity to visit the Centenary Bench and see how it was doing, as well as getting some knife carving done.

 

Two of the National Trust rangers at Leigh Woods have carved a great-looking wooden sofa, from cedar which originally grew on the Tyntesfield estate.  It is where the car park used to be by the Trust's offices :

 

There was another new artwork to be visited in the trees nearby. Luke Jerram is a well-known artist and has made installation artworks around Bristol before. He has placed five fishing boats in the woods as a piece called 'Withdrawn'. It addresses the problem of overfishing and its effects on the environment.

It was interesting to see, although it was a shame that the boats weren't safe to climb onto. Even though it wasn't the point behind the artwork, some of Jerram's previous installation pieces have involved a lot of viewer participation (playing pianos left around the city or sliding down a huge water slide) and it made just standing and looking at the boats feel a bit like there was more that could be happening.  

 

The walk there was lovely though, with the bluebells in the hazel coppices starting to come into flower. I'm glad that the artwork is there and that it gives people who might not be visiting the woods otherwise a reason to see them when they're at (what I would consider) their most beautiful.

Revisiting previous bench projects - how were they doing?

Yesterday, I was on the other side of town and decided to check in on a couple of previous projects. They are two benches installed in public areas, so I wanted to make sure they hadn't been vandalised or damaged.

The bench at Shirehampton was made with a group of local people of various ages at the end of 2013 and installed in January 2014. Here's how it looks after the first year:

The first thing that I noticed was...no vandalism! Apart from the evidence that wild birds were using it as a perch occasionally, the bench was as it had been when installed. It was nice to see that the untreated wood was aging beautifully. Larch, Sweet chestnut and Oak are all durable timbers, so I didn't use finishing oils on them and they have turned a lovely silvery colour.

The next bench was up in Leigh Woods, on the protected area of Stokeleigh Camp iron-age hill fort. It was made and installed in 2009 and did have some finishing (tung) oil applied at first. The five years since then have allowed mosses and other plants to move onto it and I think that it now looks part of the landscape in a pleasing way.

I could see that a couple of old attempts had been made at scratching names into the timber. Seasoned oak doesn't give up that easily though! The scratches were hardly noticeable. Judging by the wear in front of the bench, it has had plenty of use and hopefully has been enjoyed by a lot of people.

What's that on the hill? Bembridge fort, a 'Palmerston folly' on the Isle of Wight

From our campsite near St Helens on the Isle of Wight, we could see a strange mound on the brow of a nearby hill. It looked a bit like an Iron Age hill fort, but small mounds could be seen rising from it. We decided to go up there and have a look, although we didn't expect to find what we did.

This is Bembridge fort, which was built between 1862 and 1867 to defend the island from French invasion by the forces of Napoleon III. It was meant to be the main stronghold for the Isle of Wight's southern coast and cost £48,925 - a huge sum of money at the time. 

The fort is one of a system of defences that were ordered by Lord Palmerston, In the end, the French didn't try to invade and so the forts came to be called Palmerston's Follies. It was used by the War Department until 1948, with coastal artillery defences stationed here during the First World War and air defences and Home Guard during the Second world War. The site is now owned by the National Trust but is semi-derelict and has a private tenant, so is not open to the public except for guided tours by appointment only.

If you'd like to see inside, tours are run every Tuesday from April to October and groups of ten or more may be able to book a tour during the week. Ring 01983 741020 or email the National Trust for details.