26/26a East St Helens, Abingdon An Investigation of a Medieval Town House

The well-known medieval house in East St Helens, recently bequeathed by Miss Baker to the Oxford Preservation Trust, has been re-examined by OAU to evaluate its archaeological importance. Suspicion that the central entranceway was the site of an open hall was confirmed by the discovery of a smoke-blackened louvre in the roof, while the timber joists visible on the ground floor suggest that the hall had internal jetties on both sides. The front part consists of a hall and two side wings, and back has one original wing and a gallery linking with another wing. The rear wing has fine stone fireplaces, panelled ceilings on the ground floor, and 16th-century wall-paintings on the first floor; the gallery is lit by an timber window with excellent gothic tracery. This building is certainly one of the most remarkable medieval town-houses in the regions, and its date of construction, now determined as c. 1430 by dendrochronology, is of interest in dating certain carpentry features.