Timber used in the buildings

The Museum's buildings contain timbers of many different kinds.  This is list of some unusual and interesting examples, hopefully this will inspire you to come and look for the details yourself.

Completed in 2002 in the car parks above Longport Farmhouse. Don't miss the opportunity to see this unique building. The basement, into the hillside,  holds the Museum's collections of tools and artefacts, while the upper floor is our Building Conservation Workshop. The workshop is enclosed by a "gridshell", composed of oak laths, 5Ox35mm only be visible from the inside.  The outside is clad with Western Red Cedar boarding, polycarbonate glazing, and a flat roof. [Gridshell]

1 Longport Farmhouse (Entrance and shop)

All oak timber framing. The cross wing, on the left as you enter, was built in 1554. The "hall" range (shop area) is a frame that was originally built in the early 16th century, but was dismantled and re-used as part of Longport Farmhouse a century later. [Longport]

2 Hambrook Barn

Probably built in 1771. An excellent building in which to see traditional oak timber framing. Notice particularly that the tie beams are two halves of the same tree. Can you spot other timbers that "belong together"? [Hambrook]

The wall framing, now concealed by external weatherboarding, is of imported softwood, similar to that of Whittakers Cottages. 

The original timbers are oak. The old door at the top of the stairs is of beech and shows interesting pitsaw marks, including the curving marks made when the saw "attacks" at the start of its downward stroke. [Walderton]

Built in the early 1860s, this pair of semi-detached cottages contains eleven different species of timber in the wall frames - oak, elm ash, beech, poplar, walnut, yew, mulberry, whitebeam, European redwood and spruce. The hardwood timbers were from small trees, probably grown locally, while the softwood was imported. All the timber conversion, including weatherboards and floorboards, was done with a pitsaw. [Whittakers]

7 Poplar Cottage

Built for a landless labourer in the early-mid 17th century. The four tie beams were converted from a single oak tree, as were probably the eight posts. The main internal beams are of elm, and many of the smaller timbers were re-used from another building. [Poplar]

8 Horse Whim

Much of the framing had to be replaced, and the new oak timber was pitsawn at the Museum.

9 Open Shed from Charlwood

The original purpose of this shed is unknown but vertical cuts on the tie beams indicate that it was used as a saw shed, with the balk to be sawn placed on the tie beam instead of trestles or over a pit.

10 Littlehampton Granary

Probably built in 1731, the framing members are a mixture of oak (the four corner posts), elm (the north wall plate) and Baltic yellow pine (the other three wall plates). The pine wall plates are quarter logs. The plates, beams and joists of the granary floor are of elm - look underneath to see its unmistakable character. [Granary]

The timber frame is of oak, mainly "boxed heart" - that is, the whole tree squared up to make a single beam. Among the furnishings, the benching in the service rooms is sycamore with elm legs; the three-legged stools are elm and oak; and the tabletops and trestles are of elm.  [Bayleaf]

The frame, boarding and threshing floor are all oak. Notice the rafters, which are all original, are sawn from wide slabs from large trees, and the collar purlin is a single length of boxed heart timber, so came from a tall and slender tree. Around the yard, the fence is sweet chestnut, the cart is of ash with oak spokes and axle and elm naves; and the harrow is oak with ash tines. [Cowfold]

A good example of a simple oak frame daring from the early 16th century. Notice that the infill panels at the top of the internal frame were not daubed on the hall side, thus exposing the woven hazel wattles. The modern extensions represent missing parts of the original; house.  They are clad with Western Red Cedar boarding.  Inside, the wall and roof insulation materials are exposed - woodwool slabs for the walls and sheeps wool insulation for the roof.  [Winkhurst]

16 Cattle Shed (Historic Farms Farmsteads Exhibition)

This building is an excellent example of 19^th century framing, still traditional in many ways but with distinct new elements. The main posts and braces are oak and all other timbers are softwood. Compare the original softwood rafters and the adjacent modern replacements which are of larch. All the boarding, both internal and external, is of beech. [Cattle sheds]

17 Pendean Farmhouse

Built in 1609. The frame is all oak. There are many twisty timbers, apparently from hedgerow-type oaks, and some timbers were re-used from earlier buildings. [Pendean]

18 Boarhunt

The original timbers, which are all oak, have angled saw marks which result from a method known as "see-sawing". The marks are particularly clear on the tie beams at either end of the hall, coming from the two ends and meeting in a triangle in the middle. These marks tend to be found on timbers of the 14^th and early 15^th centuries. [Boarhunt]

The forestry thinnings used for charcoal burning include beech, oak, ash, hornbeam, chestnut and hazel. [Charcoal camp]

This building contains an exhibition describing the history of woodland management in the local area. Various underwood products are on display.  [Cattle shed]

The building and the wheel are framed in oak. The exposed wattle is hazel, woven around staves of chestnut. [Treadwheel]

The timber frame is all of oak. Note the use of the buttresses of the upturned trees to form the projecting heads of the posts. [Market hall]

The surviving original frame was fragmentary and most of the visible timbers are replacements, all oak, matching the original. [Horsham shop]

A typical timber frame of the 15^th century, all oak. Unusually, some of the original window mullions survive. [Crawley hall]

The original timbers are all elm, except the bressumer, posts and studs on the front elevation, which are oak. Tools marks on some of the original timbers are exceptionally clear - look at the middle rails of the frames at each end of the hall, for instance, which show saw marks on the hall side and axe hewing marks on the reverse. The original rafters are small elm trees, squared up. The new stairs and floor boards are also elm, and the staves in the infill panels are chestnut. [North Cray]

Added to the stair turret at the back of a medieval building, circa 1620. The timbers are all oak, but many were re-used from earlier buildings and were covered internally (and possibly also externally) with decorative paint. [Reigate]

Probably built in 1888, the building was made in prefabricated sections which were bolted together. The timber is imported softwood. [Newick]

All softwood framing, probably English or European with iron brackets under the tie beams and a central iron rod. [Witley]

A low-cost building using a rough timber frame. The main posts are dug into the ground rather than being raised on a sole plate. [Windlesham]

The kingpost, ties and principal rafters are of oak. The common rafters are of softwood- In the centre of each face of the kingpost you can see the remains of the raddle mark which the carpenter made by snapping a string line. [Pugmill]

The original frame is all oak and dates from 1733. Notice the inserted knee braces, made of naturally curved timber, which replaced the original framed braces. [Brick shed]

The front post at the right-hand end is yew. The middle post is elm - notice the short transverse shakes across the grain often found on common elm. The new front wallplate is Douglas fir. The end plates, principal rafters and collars are oak. The original rafters are softwood. [Sawpit]

The frame is oak, with chestnut tile battens and softwood boarding. The central tiebeam had a severe crack, caused by a defect in the timber, which has been repaired with a concealed steel flitch plate. [Wagon Shed]

The cladding's an example of the use of "slabwood" offcuts from squaring up logs by sawing. The original slabs are of an unidentified hardwood, and the Museum's replacements are oak. On the rear gable wall there are some slabwood boards with splodges of green paint: they are (l. to r.) spruce, beech, yew (or oak), larch. [Smithy]

The fencing rails are of cleft oak. [Pound]

Another fine example of a complete frame, all of oak. There are many examples of symmetrically placed timbers coming from the same log the tiebeams (the end pair matches as well as the pair bordering the threshing floor), main posts (four from a tree), door posts, purlins (all purlins were taken from a single tree), aisle ties at the north end, aisle sole plates, and various groups of adjacent rafters. Only the arcade plates did not appear to match. [Court barn]

The frame is of oak but much of it was re-used from earlier buildings. The external boarding is elm. The hanging stall divisions are horse chestnut, which has similar colour and texture to poplar. Compare the two sweet chestnut joists spanning from the loft above. [Stable]

The timber framing in the building is all oak, but there are other species to be seen in the machinery and fittings. The gear wheels have elm rims, with oak spokes and shafts, and apple or hornbeam cogs. The dough bin is of lime, and the tuns around the millstones are pine. [Mill]

Most of the original major timbers of the aisled hall were elm but several of them were badly decayed and broke up during removal, so have been replaced. Most of the braces are oak, as is the frame of the later added crossing at the lower end of the hall. [Sole Street]