Dendro-Dating Project

David Humphreys undertook the work in association with Mr F Coyne of AEGIS Archaeology, Mr R UaCróinín Conservation Officer Clare County Council and Dr P Barratt of Queens University Belfast.

The following resources and methods of recording these beams and establishing their age were used

• Plaster was removed and timber beams were exposed
• A measured survey was undertaken of exposed timbers
• Dendro-chronological samples were taken, and analysed in Queens University Belfast

The dendrochronological assessment and sampling was carried out on the structural timbers on the 10th March 2012. Two structural oak timbers in the internal walls were successfully dated providing termini post quos of AD 1672 and AD 1643. However, no sapwood, or sapwood-heartwood boundaries were present to provide precise felling dates. A further internal timber was provisionally dated to the same period, although a sample from the first floor fireplace could not be cross matched successfully to provide a date. The roof timbers were found to be pine and could not be dated, although they are unlikely to date earlier than the early 18th century