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Restoration Project Makes Call for Volunteers
3rd May 2012
A group of volunteers in Charlwood, Surrey made an appeal for volunteers this week to help them finish a restoration project that has occupied them for 25 years.
The eight villages have dedicated their Sunday mornings over a quarter of a century to their “labour of love” – reconstructing the Lowfield Heath windmill, which last worked in the 1880s.
Lowfield Heath Windmill Trust member Mike Yates told the Surrey Mirror that “there is always something going wrong, the wood doesn’t always last long. The timbers are never quite as good as you thought.”
The mill used to stand in Lowfield Heath, West Sussex, before the land was bought by Gatwick Airport – which helped fund its move to the new location in Charlwood.
So far, £150,000 has been sunk into the project, much provided by the local charity the John Bristow and Thomas Mason Trust, plus fundraising by the Lowfield Heath Windmill Trust. With help, the group hopes that the project will be completed by the end of 2012.
Damaged Oak Beams Threaten High Wycombe Church
11th April 2012
Local campaigners in High Wycombe are concerned that an ancient church in the town is gradually being whittled away in the name of conservation.
An attack of deathwatch beetle has led to the ancient oak beams in All Saint’s Parish Church being badly damaged, placing the bell tower in jeopardy. This has led to calls for the historic bells to be replaced with lighter versions as part of a scheme to strengthen the tower.
Campaigners, however, believe that not enough has been done to examine the option of wood conservation and using the best oak carpentry techniques to preserve both the original structure of the tower and the original bells.
Chris Woodman of the High Wycombe Society told the Bucks Free Press that “some of the bells are of historic significance, carrying inscriptions with the names of important personalities in the town’s history – the Marquis of Lansdown and the Earl of Wycombe.”
“We shall be sorry if all these bells are lost and would like to see at least one of them preserved in an appropriate location.”
Oak Beams ‘Renaissance’ Combines the Best of the Old and the New
10th April 2012
The Daily Telegraph highlighted this week the growing phenomenon of using oldoak beams in new build properties.
The paper took as an example Marycombe, in Devon. This building is made with the convenience of modern buildings in mind, but also owing a large debt to the skilled crafts of the past, especially oak carpentry and wood conservation. The farmhouse-style building is made from stone hewn from the land it is sited on and framed with centuries old oak beams.
Marycombe, which overlooks the Kingsbridge estuary in the South Hams, was designed and built by Roger Robinson, who told the Telegraph that “the green, unseasoned oak frame has been reinvented. People love the idea of a new house with authentic character.”
Roger hailed what he sees as a renaissance in traditional building skills in the UK, which are marrying the best of the old and the new. He first became fascinated with old buildings in the 1980s, doing work with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings campaigning to save old farmhouses from ugly, ill-thought out conversions.
An Oak-Framed Building Constructed in Just Five Minutes!
30th March 2012
It may be made to look easy, but putting together an oak-framed building is – unsurprisingly – a highly-skilled business, involving architecture, design, oak carpentry and accounting. Everything from selecting the right kind of oak – while respecting the principles of wood conservation– to placing the final fixtures and fittings has to be meticulously planned. The oak beams to be used in the building have to be cut to exactly the right specifications to ensure that everything fits into place when the time comes. Before a single one of the oak beams is in place, an incredible amount of work will have occurred, out of sight of the eventual house-owner.
Nevertheless, watching this entire structure build from the ground up in just five minutes is a tribute to the skill of the builders and the patience of the cameraman! Sit back and enjoy the ride, and perhaps be a little grateful that you’re not one of the skilled craftsmen bustling around !
Oak Beams Play a Major Role in Finchingfield Guildhall Restoration
23rd March 2012
Pupils at Finchingfield Primary School paid a visit to their historic medieval guildhall this week, which is in the process of undergoing a thorough restoration – and using the best in oak carpentry techniques as it does so.
The guildhall in the picture postcard Essex village was established in 1470, and has been in use ever since. At the moment, the guildhall has had its more modern exterior stripped away, with the roof tiles and wall coverings all gone, so the pupils were able to see the original oak beams that make up its frame.
Fairhurst Ward Abbotts site foreman Tony Loades was on hand to take questions from the children, and he also showed them the new oak beams that will be used to restore the rooms to a more authentic medieval state and reaffirm the project’s commitment to wood conservation.
This accompanying video gives us a fascinating computer rendition, providing an overview of the restoration process, with particular attention paid to the hall’s transformation into an open-plan environment – oak beam supports replace dividing walls in many cases – and its re-purposing, with a new entrance hall and gift shop, an historical museum, an indoor glass-panelled walkway, a community library and an enlarged multi-purpose guildroom.
One of the first principles of wood conservation is to make sure that you reuse good quality wood as often as possible. When it comes to antique or old oak beams, this is an easy task, since the wood is usually very hardy and well preserved.
Oak carpentry experts are well versed in reclaiming oak beams from barns or condemned properties and re-sawing them for use in other buildings, such as private homes. In the short video linked to above, we see a American carpenter walking the viewer through the process of preparing and reshaping reclaimed oak beams – in this case white oak beams from a barn – ready for installation in a house’s ceiling.
The Woodland Trust this week called for the government and local councils to do more for wood conservation in the UK – warning that ancient oak trees across England and Wales are under threat.
Along with the Ancient Tree Forum, the Trust said that oak trees which have flourished for centuries could be in danger, especially trees growing in Wrexham and Chirk, North Wales, which have survived the age-old demand foroak carpentrymaterials to become some of the oldest in the country.
Campaigners called for the upcoming merger of Wales’ three environmental bodies – Environment Agency Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales and Forestry Council Wales – next April to ensure that the new agency takes on responsibility for wood conservation.
Woodland Trust spokesman Rory Francis added: “I’d also like to see help and advice for land-owners who have particularly rare and ancient trees on their property.”
“Often people are scared of contacting their local authority because they feel, wrongly in my experience, that having a protected tree might place extra financial burdens, or might make their property harder to sell.”
The Oak Beams of Oxford’s New College
29th February 2012
The tale of the Oak Beams of Oxford’s New College is a heart-warming anecdote in its own right, but is also a great example of how the art of oak carpentry and wood conservation resounds through the ages.
The idea of an institution’s cultural continuity being so strong that oak beams fitted over 500 years ago can still be sourced and replaced in the present day is an exciting and intriguing one, yet one that continues to have great resonance for today’s generation of craftsmen working with oak beams.. by feeling that they are also part of a longstanding tradition, they can draw upon the experience of the ages to put their own skills into perspective and combine the best of the old and the new – the most innovative practices with the finest skills and practices of the past.
A similar tale involving oak beams can be found surrounding the House of Commons in Westminster. Former MP Tony Benn, a keen amateur Parliamentary historian, recounts the time that the oak beams in Parliament required replacing, and how officials were able to match the exact same kind of wood – because the Parliamentary records had noted from which Lord’s estate the oak beams had been sourced, and because that particular lord’s descendant still sat in the House and owned his ancestor’s ancient oak woodlands.
The Nicaraguan Origins of Altham Oak Beams
20th February 2012
Altham Oak’s Derek Goffin revealed this week that a Central American building project he worked on in 1987 was the tiny “acorn” which grew into today’s successful oak carpentry and wood conservation business today.
The co-operative, based by the River Calder at Altham Corn Mill, works wonders with bent wood and oak beams, providing a wide array of traditional designs – anything from the roofs of country houses to the cover for an open-air hot tub. But it was the project in Nicaragua 25 years ago that inspired founding member Derek Goffin to devote his life and his talents to oak beams.
Journeying to the country following the Sandinista revolution of the 1980s, Derek saw a land brimming with opportunities. He recalls that Nicaragua “was an exciting place to be. There was a lot of hope and more people were able to go into education and I thought I wanted to help.”
With other volunteers, he helped to build a new school and was struck by the clever techniques employed by local builders who did not have access to the hi-tech construction equipment in the developed world. Instead of using straight trees to make the roof beams, builders would cut a length of wood from a bent tree with a chainsaw.
“In this country that tree would have been discarded or sent for hardboard manufacture or fire wood,” Derek recalls – and he now uses the same method to create top-quality oak beams from bent trees in the UK.
“Most of the work we do is for people who live in the countryside, where the traditional pre-industrial style design we use fits in with the properties,” he said, although the cooperative has also worked on National Parks’ bridges.
Exeter’s Bishop’s Throne Reveals Secrets of Mediaeval Oak Carpentry
16th February 2012
Next month will see one of the most magnificent masterpieces of mediaeval oak carpentry re-opened to the public – the 700-year-old Bishop’s Throne at Exeter Cathedral.
Currently obscured by scaffolding while restoration work takes place, this 60-foot high ornate throne has been of immense value to historians, because an incredible amount is known about its heritage and its provenance, when it was first made by master carpenters in 1313 – and this story has much to teach us about wood conservation in the present day.
Thanks to meticulous records, historians are able to pinpoint exactly which Devonshire farm supplied the oak beams used in the throne’s construction, in which pond the beams were seasoned before use and even the names of the carpenters in question.
The cathedral’s archaeologist John Allan explained that “the throne is widely regarded as the most magnificent piece of mediaeval furniture left in Northern Europe.”
“It is a complex and most unusual survival – and is remarkable because it is so richly carved. It must have required masses of work – there’s a series of very complex shapes which must have been very difficult to carve, along with elaborate panels and leaf carvings.”
He revealed that the oak beams came from Bishop’s Manor at Chudleigh, the carpenters who created it were named William Membury and William Gampton and the wood was seasoned in a mill pond in Newton St Cyres .
“The cathedral preserved the original rolls of parchment which recall all the expenses at the time – they are magnificent and generally thought to be best record of their kind.”
