Great Hall Roof, Hampton Court Palace

The hammer-beam roof within the Great Hall is one of the most celebrated features of Hampton Court. A project to renovate the roof’s covering allowed the archaeological survey and recording of a small area of the roof structure with the specific objective of locating evidence of a former louvre, known to have existed in the late seventeenth century (???), which allowed the release of smoke from a central fireplace within the hall. Evidence relating to the former louvre was identified and recorded including a secondary ridge piece which was inserted when the louvre was filled and mortices within the face of an existing truss which would have supported the louvre structure.