dating a house?

[willpalin]

How can you determine the age of part of a house, specifically by a recently uncovered fireplace with two bread ovens and carved stones carefully masoned - at least 16th centuary - possibly much earlier? The Victorians 'modified' this part of the building so no early roof remains and the original beam above the inglenook was cut out. Any clues would be much appreciated, Cheers, Will

[Nether Edge]

Possibly look at title deeds. They may go back over the years and could show plans or verbal descriptions throwing light on who did what when.

[jake-the-peg]

It can be very difficult to acurately date old buildings, not least because they've often been altered significantly over the years.

You often find bits of clay pipes whilst working on them, shoved into the walls where the builders broke them and discarded them, this can sometimes be a help.

In my house we found some coins secreted in the corners of the floor which gave us a date of about 1750 but this was still about 70 years later than we think the house was first built based on some of the pipes.

There are of course certain features that point to certain periods. Jettys like this are characteristically Tudor
http://www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk/spotli ghts/rich_or_poor/assets/images/jetty.jpg

If the house is really old it may predate the fireplace. At first fires were in open halls and the smoke was allowed up through the roof, then came a brief period of smoke bay houses where the house had a partition for the fire to be burnt in. Then finally you got proper fireplaces. Many houses were adapted to incorporate fireplaces and bread ovens may have been built in then.

You can do dendrochronology (at a price) if you have original beams anywhere.

If you live anywhere in the south I'd strongly recommend a trip here:

http://www.wealddown.co.uk/

They have a large number of traditional buildings from various eras. Take some photographs of your house and compare and contrast various features - you may even get an expert opinion

[willpalin]

Thanks for both your answers - our Title Deeds only go back to the early 20th Centuary - Jake, our mason believes the newly discovered fireplace is the oldest part of the house and the adjoing wall to our middle lounge isn't tied to the outside walls - implying a modification circa 16th Centuary. Theres a lot of evidence of changes in both roof and ceiling levels and yes I agree if this is the remains of the original 'hall' there would have been a central fire with smoke escaping through what would have been a thatched roof with no sonars above. The Victorians distroyed the oriignal roof whilst adding dormar windows to the southern end, increasing both floor and roof heights for graeter 'status'. However this new discovery of a fireplace with a single bread oven with it own chimney and a second behind the fire that looks like its be back-filled leads us to believe it was the access to an external oven long since demolished. I'll follow your links with graet interst and thank you vey much indeed.
With best wishes
Will