The Stepping Stones of History

[Maggie/915]

Anglo /Saxon building techniques.

Why the holes?

[Adam Hogg]

Is there a moat or this above the outside height Maggie?

[Maggie/915]

No Adam it is a church.

No one truly knows what the holes are there for.

[Andy Millne]

Maybe somebody got tired of throwing things over the top?

[Maggie/915]

Possibly but the church has no roof or door.

[Symptoms]

Usually, these square/rectangular holes found in very old stone buildings are known as putlog holes.  Putlogs were a type of scaffolding that inched up the building as it was built.  Baulk of dressed timber would be inserted horizontally into these holes and supported below by angled timber braces, deck boards (similar to modern scaffold boards) would then be laid over the horizontal pieces to form a working platform.  Clearly, as the building progressed upwards all this putlog tackle would be disconnected and moved upwards.

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I'm pretty sure Symtoms is right, I once saw a Fred Dibnah show about castle building and it seems the Normans used the same techniques in their stone building work.

[Maggie/915]

I agree but why would the holes be left.

It was suggested they would be grand places for birds to nest !

Maybe they would be sealed with wood or stone.

This church is said to be about 9 degrees off the East /West line.

It seems it maybe on a pagan site.

Anyone got a compass to check out Saint Cuthbert's.

[mercuryg]

The holes are where the ancient aliens who built the church kept their sandwiches dry.

[Symptoms]

Maggs ... as the putlogs were disconnected and moved upwards there was nothing for the masons to stand on to fill the holes, that's why they remain 'open' to this day in most of these old buildings, I also suspect there was no need to close them as the walls were so thick and the holes shallow by comparison.  I probably got this info from the same Fred Dibnah show that Smudge mentions (I love watching Fred's shows) ... there was also a Beeb series recently about re-building a French castle that looked at all this medieval building technology.

[Maggie/915]

Note to self

Must watch Fred Dibnah.

[Maggie/915]

This is nearer to home.

Why are there different coloured stones / bricks near the roof.

Scaffolding again, clerestory or triforium or any other ideas.

The church our Saint Cuthbert's Bedlington.

[Symptoms]

They're 'tie stones' used to tie stone walls together, usually at a change of direction (corners).  If these longer stones weren't inserted there'd be a tendency for cracking/separation of the two walls in the corners.  Why the different colour?  No real reason other than being longer than the other locally sourced sandstone blocks in the picture they may have come from a different quarry;  perhaps, the local 'yellow' sandstone couldn't be fashioned into long enough blocks. 

[Maggie/915]

Not sure I agree there Symptoms.

They are not on corners and looking inside the Church provides no extra clues.

Obviously close to the Norman Arch.

On the long wall there is evidence of windows that have been replaced.

The originals are higher and have round arches.

Early English /Romanesque.

The colour puzzles me.

[Symptoms]

Tie stones aren't meant to go all the way through the adjoining wall at a corner, they stop short and as long as they're bedded into both walls they fulfil the function of knitting the walls together.  Remember, that these old church walls can be 3 to 6 feet thick so it's unusual for the tie stones to penetrate all the way through to the outside.  Rarely, can the outside stone courses/layout be viewed from the inside of these old buildings due to the wall thickness;  the walls are generally two skins - the outside one of dressed stone, the inside one of roughs and with an infill of rubble.  The inside wall will originally have been plastered/rendered and white washed.  As to colour ... different quarry.

[Maggie/915]

Surely it would be unsightly and covered up Synptoms.

The look of the red stones is more like brick.

I wonder if it is an indication of a different but attached building at some stage in the church's life.

Besides being in line with the Norman arch it is also in line with the lepers window. (So called)

The walls around the church and opposite are similar stone to this old part.

As are part of the old vicarage.

[Symptoms]

Bricks, even Medieval ones, are of a generally common size - small enough to hold and small enough to fire easily. The red stones in your pics are sandstone and not fired brick. Northumberland does have yellow/buff/red sandstone & limestone quarries dotted around the place, including Bedders.  Whilst the following document doesn't prove anything, it illuminates the range of stones available locally:

 

Northumberland_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf

 

I've posted the following before but for those that haven't seen it it makes interesting reading:

 

Bedlington.pdf

[Maggie/915]

Thanks Symptoms.

I will read your links at some stage.

My aim is to try to understand the Anglo / Saxon era in relation to our town and church.

Sadly things are not always black and white.

We have seen very diverse opinions on the election.

Often people prove what they think is already known.

The expert geologist can get it wrong and put peoples lives at risk in the coal mines.

This we have as a first hand account, thanks to HPW.

I wonder what (if anything) would be around in Bedlington 2000 years ago.

Then 1000 years ago before the Normans wrecked the North.

It could be that merely a ruin was left and they then attempted to construct or reconstruct.

Recycling.

We have early guides to what was or was not happening.

However when assessment of how well you were doing involved some degree of taxation, it maybe was not as clear cut.

Even Bede wrote only one version of events.

Our town is interesting.

The walls around and outside the church are back filled with soil as are the walls to the old Whitley Memorial School.

How have the levels changed in 2000/1000 years , I wonder!

What effect has man had on these changes and why?

We know the woods hold many secret tunnels and more just from the period of the Second World War.

What is under our feet?

Maybe nothing but who knows what could or will be found in the future to change our outlook on events.

One thing we have is the stones as evidence.

A simple wall can show evidence of Roman Occupation.

A drive from Scots Gap up country is interesting just looking at the buildings and walls.

The so called 'Devils Causeway' near Hartburn is another interesting point.

Walk up the river and look for 'Fords'

Things change, I believe there is evidence further North of a landowner changing the course of a river.

If 100 years ago can be lost in the mists of time , who really has a clue.

Modern War fare is obliterating huge areas and historical details are being lost.

Books can be burnt.

Building destroyed.

I guess being brought up on old Enid Blyton novels had an effect.

[Symptoms]

Let's speculate about what would happen after a dirty big snowball or lump of rock thumps into us from outer space.  Most of the stuff on planet Earth gets snuffed out apart from a few lucky (???) ones.  Look a thousand years in the future and what would we find?  Would it all have developed into a pastoral utopia or a pale version of the Industrial Revolution (unlikely, due to all the easily accessible resources having already been extracted) .  My bet is for something with a storyline lifted straight out the Game of Thrones;  in other words constant tribal warfare.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Symptoms

[Maggie/915]

That's a cheery little thought Symptoms.

Wonder what would be left to prove we existed.

After all 100 years dead and we are forgotten.

Even the most elaborate gravestones can be gone without trace.

Sometimes recycled into pathways and cut to size.

Like our very selves.

Just as well we know that 'It's better to burn out than to fade away'.

[Maggie/915]

If Bedlington had a Bishops Hall or Palace consider that the place had some importance.

In Hereford the Bishops Palace has very similar looking surrounding walls.

[Malcolm Robinson]

90 degrees now, just showing off Maggie?

[Maggie/915]

How did you guess.

Although maybe I should just try harder .

[Symptoms]

Looks like Hereford in OZ.  That wall looks to have a single yellow line in the road above it .... too much wacky backy Maggs? 

 

Future tip to prevent Sym neckache: take the snap, then rotate the phone to the correct orientation, then save the snap again.

 

Oh. and Antony Gormley's new iron block sculptures will last for 1000 years ... so sayeth the man himself.  Perhaps, he was commissioned by the kippers to create them ... 1000 year Reich celebration or their election success.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32702277

Edited May 12, 2015 by Symptoms