Search for the Master Carpenters
Cecil Hewett has developed a new science in his own lifetime. His is the revolutionary method of dating historic wooden buildings from the carpenters' joints used to put them together.
As a result he has found the earliest-known half-timbered cottage in the country. He has shown how the Christmas tree of interior woodwork has kept Salisbury Cathedral spire standing for over. 600 years. In a Sussex church he has identified a wooden roof dating from the days of the Anglo-Saxon kings.
Hewett's latest claim is to have discovered the only known post of pre-Norman date still supporting a standing building. Chronicle specially commissioned a radio-carbon dating of the wood to see if he is right.
Narrated by RENÉ CUTFORTH
Producer ROBIN BOOTLE
Series editor BRUCE NORMAN
Book (same title), £5.75, from bookshops