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Ring‐Width Dendrochronology, Isotopic Dendrochronology and Radiocarbon Dating of Timbers From the Spire Scaffold of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, England

Kutsi D. Akcicek Orcid Logo, Daniel Miles, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Darren Davies, Danny McCarroll, Neil Loader Orcid Logo

Archaeometry

Swansea University Authors: Darren Davies, Danny McCarroll, Neil Loader Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/arcm.70088

Abstract

Ten timbers from the spire scaffold of Salisbury Cathedral were dated using a combination of ring‐width dendrochronology, stable oxygen isotopic dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Seven timbers were coeval and assigned a combined empirical felling date range of 1352–1378, which was further ref...

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Published in: Archaeometry
ISSN: 0003-813X 1475-4754
Published: Wiley 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71278
Abstract: Ten timbers from the spire scaffold of Salisbury Cathedral were dated using a combination of ring‐width dendrochronology, stable oxygen isotopic dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Seven timbers were coeval and assigned a combined empirical felling date range of 1352–1378, which was further refined to 1351–1359 (OxCal 95.4%). These results would indicate that the scaffold was not a 1320s construction but instead built later in the 14th century. The remaining sampled timbers produced a precise felling date of spring 1737 and are coincident with documented repair work in 1738.
Keywords: ring-width dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, stable isotope dendrochronology, Salisbury Cathedral
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: This work was supported by UK Research and Innovation (EP/X025098/1, EP/X525637/1, AH/X00354X/1), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (895-2019-1015), The Keble Association Icw Oxford University and Keble College, University of Oxford.

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