A beautifully illustrated guide to timber-framed buildings and how they have been constructed from medieval times to the nineteenth century.

Timber-framed buildings are a distinctive and treasured part of Britain's heritage. The oldest of them are medieval but their numbers peaked in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with a revival again in the nineteenth. The majority of timber-framed buildings are houses, but timber was used in all kinds of other buildings, including shops, inns, churches, town halls and farm buildings. This book outlines the history of timber-framed buildings, including their construction techniques, regional variations in style, and their social status. It also shows how the buildings have been treated in subsequent centuries and guides the reader in identifying timber-framing that is concealed behind later work. Illustrated with color photographs, it is the ideal primer for anyone interested in timber-framed buildings who wants to explore them further.