Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

BRIDGE HOUSE, CHURCH STREET: A SHORT HISTORY 131 A view of wattle only modernised in that plastic cable ties have been used in place of bramble bark. wing was jettied (upper storey projecting over the ground floor). The window at first-floor level in the front gable was of a projecting type, and the jetty was supported by a beam known as a bressummer, whose ornate carving further demonstrated the wealth and importance of the owner. Construction of Bridge House Oak is the predominant timber in the construction of the frame, although a fair amount of elm was also utilised, reflecting the local timber available to the original carpenters. Oak has great strength and resistance to rot, and when allowed to dry naturally is actually improved and hardened with age. Elm, when grown in woodland conditions, grows taller than oak so was employed on members where great length was required. It is somewhat inferior to oak in that it is less resistant to damp and insect attack. Dendrochronological examination has shown that the timber was felled in 1457. It would have been worked within a year of felling, when it was still green and soft, allowing it to be cut and the joints made. As the sap dried out, the timber hardened until it was almost too hard to cut. The drying process continued after the frame had been erected, with the timber warping and twisting, causing the undulations of line found in all old timber buildings. The trees were felled with a narrow axe. The larger trees were split into baulks and shaped with a broad axe. Timbers were usually cut from a tree just large enough to produce the section required. All the large timbers in Bridge House contain the heart of the tree, a term referred to as boxed heart, which means simply squared from a whole trunk. Smaller timbers were generally halved from the squared baulks. As the timbers were cleft, the grain of the tree ran true along the beams, giving them much greater strength than modern sawn timbers. Curved braces were cut from curved branches of larger trees. It is estimated that approximately two hundred trees would have been felled in the construction of Bridge House, varying in size from nine to eighteen inches in diameter. With the timbers prepared, the next stage was cutting the joints. The carpenters’ tools available were adzes, axes, chisels, basic planes, hammers and mallets, shell augers, scribing tools and chalk lines. Considering the basic nature of these tools, the carpenters produced work of astonishing skill and ingenuity. The joints used were mortice and tenon, half lap, or scarf, the mortice and tenon being the most important and the basis for the framework. Scarf joints were utilised to join shorter beams together to produce one continuous length. After cutting all the joints, the framework was assembled on site. Many strong arms would be needed for the rearing and building; however, the majority of members were assembled one by one. Almost all the beams could be carried by one or two men. A rope and pulley would have assisted in raising the larger beams. As the work progressed, scaffolding would have been used, consisting of poles lashed together with woven wattle panels as platforms. During erection the frame would have been supported on temporary blocks which were replaced after completion with a low stone plinth. All the joints were held together with oak pegs driven into holes drilled through the mortice and tenons. Metal fixings were not used. The pegs were tapered so that as they were driven home the joint would be pulled tightly together. The original roof covering would have been thatch. Reed provided the best quality thatch but wheat straw was also used. At a later date the thatch was replaced with peg tiles. These would have been produced locally from the Cambridgeshire gault clay. When fired this clay forms tiles of a distinctive yellow colour. The tiles derive their name from the small timber pegs driven through holes in the tiles and hooked over the laths. Over many years of repairing and re-roofing, a proportion of red tiles have been used producing a mixture of reds and yellows. This distinctive appearance has become known as the Huntingdonshire mix. The panels between the timber framing were infilled with wattle and daub. This comprised a timber background fixed between the studs on to which was applied a layer of wet earth mixed with straw and cow dung. The wattle sticks were of hazel which was grown coppiced in local