Timber – Journeys of Heart and Mind

Image of the day – 71

This old inn would have been part of the coaching network before the coming of the canals and railways.

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

This is one of Cirencester’s wonderful old hotels, ‘The Fleece’. It has a long history in the town, and its appearance is especially interesting. It looks like a timber-framed building at first glance, and at least one upper level has a visible overhang, a typical feature of multi-storey timber frame construction. But a closer look shows that the building has a render finish, and the ‘timbers’ are created with black paint on the render. Nonetheless, I can’t help wondering if there are real timbers underneath the render, it actually seems quite likely! If so, the render and the painted ‘timbers’ would be a sort of double-bluff. How intriguing.

Whatever the truth about the timber framing (or not), this old inn would have been part of the coaching network before the coming of the canals and railways. Passengers and their luggage would have been carried from here to Burford, Oxford, London and other destinations. The Fleece is 300-years-old and Grade II listed.

Today, the business has expanded into the properties either side, but to my knowledge the central part still looks exactly as it did 70 years ago.

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Image of the day – 69

I don’t know the age of this house, but it is clearly a timber-framed structure and some of those main timbers have adjusted comprehensively to the action of gravity over several centuries.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

Here’s Cirencester’s wonkiest house – well, one of them. Until the 18th century, many buildings would have been constructed of timber, and we all know that timber is prone to warp even after seasoning, and it also responds to pressure and stress by slowly changing its shape.

Modern engineered wooden products generally avoid these issues. For example, plywood is in layers with the grain running in different directions from layer to layer. A thin sheet of wood is weak along the line of the grain, in that direction it will split easily when bent. But it will resist bending and splitting if rotated 90°. So multiple sheets glued together can be strong in all directions.

A timber-framed house

I don’t know the age of this house in Dollar Street, but it is clearly a timber-framed structure and some of those main timbers have adjusted comprehensively to the action of gravity over several centuries. Look at the glazing in the windows, for example, compare the windows with their fellows, side-by-side and up and down. See what I mean? At some point a layer of render was added to hide and protect the timbers so these are no longer visible.

The building is unoccupied at present, but I imagine it’s safe enough. Imagine how the new owners in due course will struggle to make right-angled furniture fit into walls and floors at odd angles

What about us?

Are we sometimes a little bit like this house? Do the pressures of life, sustained over years, even decades, cause us to be a little distorted? Is it difficult for other people with their right-angled opinions and requirements to fit into our expectations given our out-of-true alignments? Is the truth about us sometimes plastered over and hidden from view?

Or might it be the other way around? Am I, are you, straight and true and the fault lies with everyone else?