Architecture as Context: Understanding the 14th-Century Timber-Framed Porch at Boxford St Mary, Suffolk

It is well recognized that textual, literary, biblical and metaphorical allusions contributed to the iconographic function of medieval art and architecture, shaping their form, decoration and role. Similarly, analysis of contracts and documents has long demonstrated the interrelationship between buildings, and the copying of an existing structure in the planning and making of a new one. This article adopts a third method of enquiry into the nature of cross-referencing that can be seen within and between object types. Thought is given to the extent to which micro-architectural structures and furnishings made in timber were amongst the formal models used for porches, and also to how stone porch traditions were used to inform the design of Boxford’s north porch to a greater degree than most other surviving timber porches. It will be argued that this building can be conceptualized as an example of architectural skeuomorphism.