The Vernacular Architecture Group Winter Conference 2023/4: New Developments in Dendrochronology and its impact on Vernacular Architecture

Dates: Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th January 2024

Venue: College Court Conference Centre, Knighton Road, Leicester LE2 3UF

The next winter conference will be held at College Court, University of Leicester. There have been significant developments in dendrochronological dating over the past 10 years and much of this has had important implications for vernacular building research. New complementary techniques have opened up opportunities to date other wood types and timbers derived from short-lived trees and increased the number of buildings that can be accurately dated. This has allowed dendrochronology to contribute to vernacular building studies in a wider number of areas, moving beyond the dating of individual buildings to contribute to studies of settlements and regions and contribute to other debates. The conference will cover three main areas; new techniques, dating of other timber types, including imported timbers, and the contribution of dendrochronology to wider debates in vernacular building studies.

The outline programme is given below.

• Saturday 6 January
  • Nat Alcock (Independent researcher) – The Tree-ring Database: 1978-2023: 4,000 dates and counting
  • Cathy Tyers (Dendrchronologist, Historic England) – Scientific Dating and vernacular architecture
  • Robert Howard (Nottingham Tree Ring Dating Laboratory) – Case study: Calverley Old Hall
  • Neil Loader (Prifysgol Abertawe/Swansea University) – An introduction to stable isotope dendrochronology
  • Dan Miles (Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory) – Stable isotope dendrochronology. Application to vernacular buildings
  • Alex Bayliss (Head of Scientific Dating, Historic England) – Using radiocarbon dating to understand historic buildings
  • Danny McCarroll (Prifysgol Abertawe/Swansea University) – Welsh Houses and the climate of the past

• Sunday 7 January
  • Ann Crone (AOC Archaeology Group) and Coralie Mills (Dendrochronologie) – Home and away; the dendrochronology of pine in Scottish buildings
  • Rob Wilson (School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of St. Andrews) – Blue Intensity and historical dating: Not just for conifers!
  • Dr Martin Bridge (Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory) – Elm and dating prospects with additional analysis methods
  • Steven J Allen (Conservation Dept, York Archaeology) – Dates and the details: Constructing Anglo-Scandinavian Buildings in York
  • Duncan James (Insight Heritage) – Pembridge village, Herefordshire in the light of dendro
  • Stephen Price (Independent researcher) – The impact of dendro on understanding urban development in the Worcestershire towns of Droitwich and Bewdley
  • Ann Crone (AOC Archaeology Group) – American oak imports to Britain and Ireland in the 18th and early 19th centuries; the dendrochronological evidence
  • Vincent Debonne (researcher, built heritage, Flanders Heritage Agency, Belgium) – Towards tree-ring based chronologies of historical building materials and techniques. The example of Bruges (Belgium)
  • Chris Dyer (University of Leicester) – The importance of tree ring dates in changing our understanding of the past

Full booking details are being circulated to members during week beginning 13 November 2023, and are also available in the Members’ Area. Booking closes on 15 December 2023.

We are offering two bursaries to assist registered full or part-time students, recent graduates or professionals in the early years of their career to attend the conference; for more information please see the bursary details. The closing date for bursary applications is 8 December 2023.

Conference Brochure: VAG WINTER CONFERENCE 2024