Rick Lewis, a carpenter with 35 years experience of working on the timber framed buildings of Suffolk , gave us a very erudite and all-encompassing talk on his craft at the May meeting.
In Bradfield Woods you can still see examples of specially grown oaks, planted close together to make them straight as they competed for light. The Woods themselves may well date back to the time of the Normans. By looking at illustrations in Books of Hours and ancient woodcuts, Rick has been able to deduce how the craftsmen of the time could hew and shape the timber, fasten it together and raise a frame. Many of these illustrations show the men at work and also the tools they were using, planes, chisels, a mallet, a wooden or metal square, a snap line for marking and dividers. These were valuable, as they are mentioned in wills of the time.
It is remarkable that the work could be done with such simple tools, but as Rick pointed out, the best of the workmen had an excellent understanding of geometry. Mortice and tenon joints still hold together today and although buildings may lean and sag, as in Lavenham, they are still standing.
In continental Europe, building still follows the medieval pattern, but here, possibly because of the Industrial Revolution, building styles and skills have moved forward – for better or worse? We have to make up our own minds about this.
As well as repairing ancient buildings, Rick and his team build timber frames for extensions. They have been involved with work at West Stow and Sutton Hoo and Rick created scenes of working with timber for the BBC programme about the buildings of Britain, presented by David Dimbleby.
Members of the Society who live in timber-framed houses themselves asked many questions which Rick was happy to answer.
In June and July we have trips to the Elveden Estate and the Roman villa and museum at Gestingthorpe.
Meetings resume in September.