Kings House (formerly The Greyhound), East Street (RCHM 11, SMR 296)

Results
One of the samples proved unusable, however the other five contained useful numbers of rings. No sapwood survives on any of the samples, but each ends at the original heartwood/sapwood boundary. Four of the series cross-match and a mean series constructed from these was then compared with medieval and post-medieval oak sequences from throughout England, Wales, and elsewhere in Europe. It was apparent that this chronology matched a number of independent reference chronologies at a single consistent position. This position was checked visually and appears to be a reliable match. The correlation of the sequence to other oak reference chronologies indicates a date of AD1315-1450 inclusive for the rings in the series.

Interpretation
Assuming all four samples are from a single phase of construction and adding the minimum and maximum likely values for the missing sapwood to the dates of each timber indicates felling of this group occurred between AD1460 and 1483. Sapwood was present on two of the datable timbers but this did not survive the coring. Using a projection of the growth rates of these timbers at the end of the cores across the recorded depths of lost sapwood indicates that a felling date in the AD1460s is most likely here.

For more information please contact the secretary of the Pembridge Amenity Trust info@pembridgeamenitytrust.co.uk