Archaeologists aim to pinpoint dates of early medieval houses in Shropshire backed by £65,500 Lottery grant



© Courtesy Dr George Nash, University of Bristol

Archaeologists will deploy drones, millimetre-accurate laser scanning and dendrology on trees from nearly 600 years ago during a survey of 28 timber-framed buildings in a Shropshire hamlet which will be one of the largest medieval studies of its kind carried out in Britain.Basing their investigation on an estate map made in 1631, Dr George Nash, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bristol, and Alastair Reid, of Tilley, in the north of the county, will tree-ring date timbers. Four samples taken from one of the buildings, Brook Farm, have been found to range from 1419 to a tree felled during the winter of 1579.“Based on place name evidence, the village of Tilley probably has its origins during the Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon period,” says Dr Nash, having been surprised at the age of the timbers from an initial study which was expected to find much later wood.“The ‘ley’ element of Tilley translates into ‘leah’, meaning wood clearing.”Dr Nash says the team will make the most of “every penny” of a £65,500 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, awarded to help the project and its dendro-specialists find out more about carpenters’ marks, timber joints and decorative styles including ornate details on several high-status buildings within the township. Local schoolchildren will be encouraged to join in.“This late medieval and early post-medieval heritage can now be dated accurately for the first time, producing a unique and valuable reference database for all similar buildings in this part of the West Midlands,” says Reid.“We hope that this project could ultimately train a core of volunteers and inspire others to undertake similar projects in nearby Wem, which contains a wealth of timer-framed buildings.”Drone technology will record the upper and roof sections of the buildings, with a village information board and commissioned books recording the team’s findings.