Hands & Hearts
An article first published in Joiners' Quarterly - Number 35 - Fall 1997
Revised and republished in Thatch Magazine - Winter 1997/8

All rights reserved
K F Hume December 1997

Hands & Hearts By Ken Hume The recreation of a medieval English cottage in Royalston, Massachusetts, USA.

The cottage has always drawn my attention and for many years I was in the habit of slowing down to gaze at the cottage as I drove past down Hartley Lane. The cottage was under the life tenancy of old Mrs. Cruikshank and she was, to say the least, quite protective of her cottage and did not welcome approaches by hawkers or even visits from sociable neighbours at her cottage door.

Following a period of continuous and torrential rain in late 1993, the thatched pole roof section which connected the cruck and box frames together eventually gave way and the house was deluged with water. Mrs. Cruickshank was rehoused by the local authority at her daughter's request and then the problem remained about what to do with the cottage.

The roof was temporarily covered with a large blue plastic tarpaulin which helped stem the ingress of any further rain, but unfortunately also trapped the considerable moisture contained within the sodden thatch. The plaster - of - paris ceilings, vulnerable to damp, began to collapse and dampness and moulds were getting ready to do their worst on this vernacular veteran.

This would not have been the first time that the future of Pembroke Cottage looked uncertain, having endured many crisis in the past including the threat of being burnt along with the rest of the village which was razed to the ground during one of the various outbreaks of the Black Death (1348 onwards).

It was a grey January day in 1994 when I first set foot inside the cottage having found myself unwittingly become an ad hoc tour host and historical buildings adviser to the local parish council and local residents all of whom were deeply concerned about the fate of the cottage. Our curiosity and concern was immediately rewarded as the pedigree of this cottage became more evident.

With no electricity up stairs or inside plumbing, the reality had to be faced that a significant degree of upgrading would be needed to make the cottage habitable for new tenants.

The cottage owners - The Stratfield Saye Estate, now realising the importance of the building invited the Royal Commission for English Historic Monuments to visit and confirm the preliminary report findings. This was key to ensuring that the best level of support and co-operation would be obtained from the local authority to help fund and approve changes that would need to be made to the cottage to bring it up to a modern living standard.

Duly approved, work proceeded to install bathrooms and open up the inglenook fireplaces which had been long bricked up and forgotten. Some of the cruck frame rafters were replaced and then work proceeded to repair and re-coat the thatch roof.

Once the roof was weather-tight, the ceilings were re-plastered and brickwork re pointed or rendered where the surface was seriously deteriorated. The thatch was repaired by Jason Morley who later was awarded the accolade of being England's best thatcher in 1996. The restoration and upgrading work continued over the summer of 1995 and was finished the following year.

In the summer of 1996, the Syckelmoore family - Alan, Joan and their 4 children, pony, cat and chickens all moved in to become the latest in a long line of occupiers of Pembroke Cottage.

Over the centuries households are known to change hands on average every 20 years, hence the Syckelmoore's may well be the 30th family to have slumbered under the thatched roof of Pembroke Cottage. Following the detail historical and structural survey work done on the existing cottage, a computer based visualisation was prepared together with working drawings and specifications which illustrated the original form and style of the cottage.

A further one day design appreciation workshop was held at the completed Pembroke Cottage immediately prior to the 1997 Timber Framers Guild’s Eastern Conference held at Amherst, Mass.

Workshop participants were able to tour the completed cottage, examine the framing, joinery and enclosure system together with discussing differences between the modern version and the original medieval cottage.

The structural performance of the Pembroke frame was demonstrated on a PC covering the various different design conditions which should be considered in designing a timber frame. Alternate analysis were undertaken to demonstrate the effect of using straight braces and tie beams and then alternatively curved and cambered scantlings. The response of the frame was obtained in real time and a hard copy of typical results were provided to the course participants for future reference.

With Royalston Oak Timber Frames workshop situated on the edge of Tom Musco’s second generation New England eastern white pine and red oak woodland, a woodland walk was made to identify the typical tree species and sizes which are typically suitable for traditional Timber Framing projects. Trees in the process of being felled and extracted from the woodland were examined for suitability for hand hewing and also for conversion using a portable band mill. Standing oak trees were inspected under the expert guidance of Glen Freden for another upcoming Royalston oak frame. Glen holds a Masters in forestry from Yale and manages 20,000 acres of New England forests for various private clients, including Tom. Glen now also specialises in sourcing that hard to find species, shape or size of lumber which will make all the difference between a plain and aesthetically pleasing frame.

Just as the Syckelmoore's are probably the 30th occupiers of the original Pembroke Cottage in England, then so are the Musco's the first to occupy the recreation of Pembroke Cottage thousands of miles from home, in the New World.

To celebrate this historic occasion Joan Syckelmoore, a talented potter, crafted and hand decorated a commemorative plate inside her old cottage barn studio.

The Pembroke building project has been a modern day practical demonstration of how some of the patterns of English building have come to be accepted as part of New England's building heritage.

The significance of this event should not be underestimated.

World renowned scholars such as Abbott Lowell Cummings (see Framed House of Massachusetts Bay) have undertaken exhaustive studies to determine how the original process of transfer of building technology and practice was made between the old and new countries.

This project has confirmed that even today, almost immediately, subtle changes start to be made by others who are not necessarily directly involved in the building process or by the key participants, the carpenter and the end user's (customers), in order to accommodate the various different factors of climate, local materials and labour availability. For example :-

· The New England cottage was clad with thick stress skin insulation panels to combat the much colder New England winters. The original Old English wattle and daub infill would not be appropriate.

· Side wall studding and roof system rafters spacing were matched to ensure that the edges of the standard 4ft. wide insulation panels could be set on nailer centre lines.

· The local building inspector did not agree to having the upper floor joists set at such a low height as would permit contact to be made with the heads of people standing upright on the ground floor as in the original cottage.

In conclusion:-

• The main purpose of life seems to be to replicate, thereby ensuring continuity.
• People and trees are replaced at fairly short and regular intervals.
• Timber buildings can and do take on a degree of permanence in the landscape and can exert a considerable influence on the lifestyles of future generations.
• Timber buildings can help to provide a continuity link between people and trees that have gone before and those who will surely follow and some that will hopefully return (American Chestnut, English Elm).
• Provided that sufficient buildings exist to preserve the building pattern then the individual buildings themselves are relatively unimportant.
• When the building stock becomes seriously depleted then the building begins to take on an increasing importance.
• The preservation of buildings is probably not as important as the preservation of the craft and the building patterns.
• Provided good craftsmen have access to building patterns and can exercise hand and eye interpretation skills, then the buildings can be recreated many times over.
• Right now it's people that matter most to me, even though in the fullness of time we will all be forgotten.

Thanks to Doreen, Graham, Jason, Janet, Ken, James, Joan, Alan, Judy, Tom, Lydia, Taj, Glen, Richard, Jack and Christopher for all having done their little bit to ensure the continuity of both New and Old English society and the preservation of the Pembroke building pattern which is now hopefully secure for another 500 years.

"Vive La Pembroke"

Ken Hume

Ken Hume is a UK Chartered Engineer born in Scotland, later emigrating to Canada where he also became a Registered Professional Engineer. He practices in the UK & USA and is currently living in Hampshire, England. He is a traditional timber frame designer and structural analyst with a strong historical perspective and understanding of traditional timber frame building practices in America, Europe & Japan.

Contact Ken at:-

Oakhurst, Sherfield Rd., Bramley, Hampshire, England. RG26 5AQ

tel / fax 01256 881344 or

Email: ken@kfhume.freeserve.co.uk

Tom Musco is a New England woodland owner and the principal timber framer of Royalston Oak Timber Frames. He has over 20 years experience in the production of timber frame buildings.