There are 4 courses per year , currently in February, April, September and October.

The practical work takes place in the award winning oak Gridshell, an inspiring and excellent educational and working area. There are also a number of “site tours” around the Museum buildings.

The aim of the course is to introduce the students to the specific problems facing the historic carpenter framing with “wet” or “green” oak, and a historic solution to framing the timbers together to ensure the correct lengths, bevels and allowances.

This course aims to provide a detailed knowledge of the “scribe rule” as practised in the early eighteenth century in Sussex.

The course is designed to enable to students to follow the historic sequence of marking and cutting the joints in the principal timbers of a small frame. We concentrate specifically on the mortice and tenon joint and its use at the junction of the bay post, wall plate and tie beam. This is the complicated arrangement of timbers where the walls meet the roof and is a feature of Sussex framing.

No; total beginners have completed the course just as well as those with some experience.  We welcome all ages, male and female. Students have ranged from 16 to 70ish. All that is required is a passion for timber frame buildings and desire to learn more about them.

Yes; oak and the tools used to cut it have not changed much over the centuries. So this knowledge is still applicable today. Specifically we cover

	the advantages and disadvantages of using wet oak.
	the uses of the tools provided in the toolkit.
	the processes of preparing, marking, cutting, numbering and checking the timbers.
	setting out the timbers on the framing ground and orientating them correctly prior to the scribing process.
	the scribing process.
	the sequence of the layout of the frames that constitute a basic timber frame building.
	how to erect a single storey timber frame up to tie beam level
	on completing the course you will never look at a timber frame building in the same way again!