The Early Barrel-Vaulted Timber Roof: New Evidence From Greyfriars, Lincoln

The timber barrel-vaulted roof at the Greyfriars building in Lincoln is the earliest known surviving example in Britain. Dendrochronological analysis of the Greyfriars roof refined using OxCal suggests a felling date of the timbers of 1223–30. That would place it within a decade of the arrival of the Franciscans in England. Detailed examination has revealed sophisticated carpentry, including curved braces and a complex wall-head assembly. It had a barrel-vault formed from boards arranged in a herring-bone pattern. The Lincoln roof is set within the later tradition of waggon roofs which have been mostly dated to the fifteenth century, although earlier examples are known from the first half of the fourteenth century. The Greyfriars roof also helps to bridge a chronological gap in the study of medieval English roofs between those suggested from the evidence of the surviving masonry from the twelfth century and later examples for which the timbers survive. Comparison with Continental examples demonstrate that timber barrel vaults also occurred in the thirteenth century in northern France and Belgium. It is proposed that later waggon roofs of south-west England may have evolved from that broader medieval tradition.