medieval technology & the Building Regulations

 

This task fell to our structural engineer, Douglas Finch, and to us to guarantee that all the oak employed was of structural grade.

Unfortunately, much of the primary fabric was not. While it provided sound archaeological evidence it was not all of sufficient strength or quality to comply with current Building Regulations.

It is important to give this real reason for the preponderance of new oak in Barley Hall and to correct any impression that its reconstruction is in large part speculative. This is not the case.

Indeed the North Range in particular, more than any other medieval building we have restored, provided such a wealth of new information on the technology of early urban timber-framed construction in York that it changed our received views significantly.

That evidence can be found in our archaeology record and in the primary fabric itself which the Trust added to its archive of finds at its Clifton depot near York. It is the uniqueness of that information that made this project special as well.

 

 

 

The city council agreed to close Coffee Yard to the public for 10 days only which meant working through the night with a self-assembling crane from Milan. This specialised crane was the only one narrow enough to reach the site in pieces through the alleyways of York.