There has been little tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) carried out in Wiltshire until recently. This contrasts with neighbouring Hampshire and Somerset, where there has been a series of projects seeking to date some of the most interesting historic buildings in those two counties. There are many benefits from this type of research, including informing owners about the origins and development of their houses and helping us, as building recorders, to more confidently date buildings on the basis of particular carpentry features.

To address the lack of securely dated buildings in Wiltshire, our Dendrochronology Project has been carried out in conjunction with English Heritage and funded under the Historic Environment Enabling Programme. Each of the 12 buildings chosen for the project has been carefully selected and only those with the greatest potential to produce a positive date have been included.

It is an integral part of our project that the Wiltshire Buildings Record also carries out an historic building appraisal on each of the target buildings. These reports are intended to provide the owners of the buildings with a detailed account of their building's history and its architectural features. The results of the project will be known during 2011.


Avis Lloyd
Project Officer