The Origin and Development of Crown-Post Roofs

T H E king-post and crown-post forms of roof-construction constituted one phase in the evolution of timber-framed roofs between the Carolingian renaissance and Tudor times. Though their purpose was functional in the first place, they were adapted to the artistic adornment of halls and churches from the late I3th century onwards. These forms originated in NW. Europe in the closing years of the rzth century; but just as Early English masonry shows differences from continental Gothic of the same period, so this type of timberframing had an independent development in England. As a consequence, the English form, usually the crown-post roof, differs somewhat from the king-post form more frequently used on the other side of the Channel: the difference between a king-post and a crown-post, i.e. one which does not reach the ridge, will be apparent from the diagrams in FIG. 4I. Both Crossley" and Smith," in their accounts of medieval roofs, have stated that the crown-post roof is one form of a general category of ridgeless roofs which have uniform rafters. Some early forms of this category suffered from longitudinal instability, a weakness relieved by the provision of a central purlin, to which the crown-post and its associated tie-beam became adjuncts. There are several examples of crown-post roofs in ecclesiastic and domestic medieval buildings in the southern, eastern and midland counties of England. Some are often attributed to the I4th and I5th centuries when evidence for an earlier date is lacking. However, crown-post roofs at Charney Bassett, Old Soar, and Chichester have already been correlated-" with buildings belonging to the last half of the I3th century, and additions to these I3th-century examples are being provided as a result of further archaeological investigations. There are a number of questions about these architectural features which remain to be answered, in particular: (i) What kind of roof did they supersede? (ii) When did they come into use in England? (iii) What forms did they take and what is the chronological significance of these forms? (iv) When were they replaced and to what extent did they survive in certain areas long after they had been succeeded elsewhere?