Bibliography and Databases
The VAG maintains a series of databases and other resources with information on Vernacular Architecture.
Vernacular Building Glossary
This new online Glossary identifies terms used for vernacular buildings, in particular the components of timber-framed structures. They can be identified by name or from drawings. It is based on the Practical Handbook Recording Timber-Framed Buildings: an Illustrated Glossary by Nat Alcock, Maurice Barley, Philip Dixon and Bob Meeson, published by the Council for British Archaeology.
VAG Databases home page
This link gives access to the interactive map of the VAG databases which are hosted by the Archaeology Data Service and to the databases themselves (or you can use the individual links below).
Aisled Building Database
This new list comprises 2540 aisled buildings (392 halls and 2127 barns, with a few other types of buildings). It also includes 110 buildings with aisled closed or end trusses and 173 buildings identified as having spere trusses. Hosted by the Archaeology Data Service.
Dendrochronology Database
The Group's Index of Tree-ring Dates is available online and is updated annually, following the publication of new results in Vernacular Architecture. Hosted by the Archaeology Data Service.
Cruck Database
The Group's list of cruck buildings (printed in 1981: CBA Research Report 42, NW Alcock, Cruck construction - an introduction and catalogue) has been extensively updated and is available online. Hosted by the Archaology Data Service. The Research Report itself is also available (Cruck construction - an introduction and catalogue).
Wealden Houses Database
The list of known Wealden Houses, as discussed and mapped in N W Alcock, 'The Distribution and Dating of Wealden houses', Vernacular Architecture, 41 (2010), 37-44. Hosted by the Archaeology Data Service.
Bibliography
The printed Bibliography of Vernacular Architecture has been published periodically, with five volumes to date. The online version hosted by the Archaeology Data Service includes the published Volumes 1 to 5 (which can be searched and the results downloaded); it is unlikely that future volumes will be made available as hardcopy. The virtual 'volumes' 6 and 7, with a total of almost 12,500 entries, have been uploaded with a cut-off in principle of 2019, although in practice the cut-off date is fluid. A further 'volume' is almost complete (Dec 2024).
Adding to the bibliography relies entirely on volunteers searching for publications, particularly in journals. If you would like to help contribute to future volumes, please email bibliographer@vag.org.uk.
The final printed volume (Volume 5, January 2011) may be downloaded free of charge by following the link below. This can be searched and printed out in whole or part as desired, but the material is copyright to the Group and may only be disseminated further with prior written permission:
- VAG Bibliography Volume 5 - cover page (jpg format, 1.5Mb) and bibliography (pdf format, 2Mb)
Index to Friedrich Ostendorf, Die Geschichte des Dachwerks [History of Roof Structure] (1908)
Julian Munby has prepared an index to the illustrations in this famous study, examining roofs throughout western Europe including England. It contains several hundred drawings, numbers of which are of roofs that no longer survive. He has kindly made this index available as a downloadable pdf. Nat Alcock has extracted from this an index for the English buildings, ordered by illustration number, rather than by name, including the printed page, at Ostendorf_England_Illustrations_by_page.pdf.
The original Ostendorf text is available as a searchable and downloadable e-book, at http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/ostendorf1908.
Tables of Tree-Ring Dated Buildings in England and Wales
A useful set of tables of tree-ring dating reports compiled mainly from entries published annually in Vernacular Architecture and available in two forms: national lists arranged mainly by half-century and county lists approximately in chronological order. These tables provide an additional resource to the Dendrochronology Database mentioned above, and build upon the data available there. They were prepared by Bob Meeson and are discussed in his paper, 'Structural trends in English medieval buildings: new insights from dendrochronology', Vernacular Architecture 43 (2013),58 75.
The tables were updated in September 2021.
