Oak cladding- any reason or just aesthetic?

[dans]

We've removed a reasonably modern wall which made up a horrid hallway recently and found part of each end (which we've obviously kept) is an oak partition. I just wondered if anyone knew what it would have been made for? It looks very old (perhaps original). Our house is C17th timber framed farmhouse... Maybe part of a cattle pen...??

Side next to front door (cleaned and waxed)

Other side of above partition (yet to be cleaned)

Partition other side of room (cleaned and waxed)

View of both (ignore remains of newer wall!)

 

[middi]

It is a typical space " segregation" partition that was usual inserted within a room at the earlier stage of the building life and as needed for various uses ( including animal shelter) .

Middi

 

[dans]

It is a typical space " segregation" partition that was usual inserted within a room at the earlier stage of the building life and as needed for various uses ( including animal shelter) .

Middi

Thanks Middi! So as simple as that.... Well, we like it, no matter how simple its origins! It's great that everything was built so well!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Plank screens (and their slightly fancier relatives, plank and muntin screens) weren't that uncommon in domestic buildings of slight pretension in the 16th and 17th centuries. I would associate them particularly with the south west of England, and Wales, but that's not to say they weren't found elsewhere.

 

[LadyArowana]

Never mind the partition, the important thing is that someone has stolen your dog!

 

[MdB]

Never mind the partition, the important thing is that someone has stolen your dog!

Forget the dog. Where is Henry????

 

[dans]

Plank screens (and their slightly fancier relatives, plank and muntin screens) weren't that uncommon in domestic buildings of slight pretension in the 16th and 17th centuries. I would associate them particularly with the south west of England, and Wales, but that's not to say they weren't found elsewhere.

Thanks Gareth.

Although our house has certainly been used mainly as a farm building for most of its life, there do seem to be some clues that lead us to think that it was of slight pretension when it was originally built. Mouldings on the ends of the beams, including the inglenook, 7ft-8ft high ceilings, etc...

 

[Penners]

It looks as though there's an exterior door on the other side of the screen - is that right? If so, I surmise that the screen was built to exclude draughts and make the room warmer. It may once have had a door in it, or perhaps a heavy curtain across the opening.

Those a quite wide boards - are they definitely oak? Elm is a possible alternative.

 

[dans]

It looks as though there's an exterior door on the other side of the screen - is that right? If so, I surmise that the screen was built to exclude draughts and make the room warmer. It may once have had a door in it, or perhaps a heavy curtain across the opening.

Those a quite wide boards - are they definitely oak? Elm is a possible alternative.

That's what we thought, as both screens face what door openings. We have always questioned if they were original door openings though, as they are not central to the house. Would original external doors be central?? It would make absolute sense as use of draught screens...

They could well be elm. Look the same as my floorboards. They're certainly one or tge other, I find it difficult to tell the difference!!

 

[Keith Bowman]

It looks as though there's an exterior door on the other side of the screen - is that right? If so, I surmise that the screen was built to exclude draughts and make the room warmer. It may once have had a door in it, or perhaps a heavy curtain across the opening.

Those a quite wide boards - are they definitely oak? Elm is a possible alternative.

That's what we thought, as both screens face what door openings. We have always questioned if they were original door openings though, as they are not central to the house. Would original external doors be central?? It would make absolute sense as use of draught screens...

They could well be elm. Look the same as my floorboards. They're certainly one or tge other, I find it difficult to tell the difference!!

In my huge experience of two timber framed houses (!)....the door would tend not to be central. While you have the opportunity, look up underneath the beams which run around the house halfway up and make a note, with measurements if possible, of the mortice holes. Our present house shows clear gaps where there is no mortice for a full sized stud but there is space for a door opening and there are other gaps between the studs where there are some small oblong mortice holes presumably for mullions for a window.

 

[Penners]

We have always questioned if they were original door openings though, as they are not central to the house. Would original external doors be central?? It would make absolute sense as use of draught screens...

They could well be elm. Look the same as my floorboards. They're certainly one or tge other, I find it difficult to tell the difference!!

There's no hard-and-fast rule about the principal door(s) being central to the house. As Keith has suggested, see if you can study the timber frame around the current door. Does it look as though it's been mucked about with? Is there evidence of another door opening elsewhere?

Even if the answer to both those questions is "yes", that doesn't preclude the possibility that the screens were erected for draught reduction, if/when the current door was inserted.

It's not always easy to distinguish between oak and elm, particularly when the boards are caked with centuries of dirt and grime. Usually (but not always!), elm tends to have a rather wilder and bolder grain figure.