Heritage Centre renovations completed

The substantial scaffolding structure outside the Heritage Centre at 150 High Street, Henley has attracted a good deal of curiosity and attention over the last three months. Well, you certainly couldn't miss it: it became facetiously known as the Heritage Centre's conservatory.

Ancient Buildings can look solid, indestructible and everlasting. In reality of course they are as prone to the ravages of age as any man-made construction. A large part of the house, the home of Henley's Heritage Centre, was dated by experts as a building of the middle 14th century - the year 1345 to be precise.

As a country at that time we were involved in the Hundred Years War and Edward III took on the French at the Battle of Crecy in the following year. The Black Death struck England in 1348, so in view of the passage of time, we could perhaps excuse a bit of roy and deterioration.

A single first-floor beam, shown above, which recently displayed such a problem was not in the very oldest section of the bulding but in the later, Tudor, part. So perhaps it would have been true at that time to say "they dont build them like they used to". Concerned that the beam in question appeared to support one of the upper walls and was clearly part of the general framework of the front and "jetted" part of the house, the trustees engaged the services of John Partridge, a specialist in oak timber frame restoration work to establish the extent and nature of the problem, and to fix it.

The house is a Grade II listed building in a conservation area and of course local authority Planning and Conservation consent was required before we could lift a finger to do any repairs. The policy in respect for this kind of work is that as much as possible of the original should be retained. That leads to interesting debates about how much of a particular component the structure could and should be repaired, as opposed to replaced. The picture below shows the removal of one which was beyond repair.

John and his assistant Grant Taylor embarked on a programme of deeper investigation. It transpired that the suspect beam was but one of several interconnected and structurally important parts of the timber frame. Trustee architect Duncan Bainbridge steered the technical aspects of the decision-making. Once the decision was made to go ahead, the front and side of the building were scaffolded - including an ingenious way of supporting the wall upstairs while the beam beneath it was removed - and shielded from the elements. This proved to be absolutely the right decision in view of the June weather: the progress of work was more or less unaffected by the rainstorms. To cut a long story short, a total of eight timber frame members plus several minor parts were dealth with. The replacement timber is all six years air-dried oak and the techniques used preserve the authentic look and function of the structure. In fact, the replacements are probably stronger than the originals!

On Friday 27 July the scaffolding was taken down and the final result became fully visible. It's been a great job, done with great skill, patience, courtesy and sensitivity by John and Grant. Thanks to the care taken we were able to keep the Heritage Centre open to the public for all but three days.

John is a timber enthusiast: his young son apparently once said to him "Dad, can we talk about something other than wood?" We are indebted to him and Grant for helping to keep this valuable old asset alive, safe and well for the coming centuries!

For those who may not know it, the Heritage Centre tells the story of Henley's past from the days of the Norman conquest to the present day. There are seven display rooms packed with exhibits and a reading room containing masses of documents collected over the years.

It is open from 1st April to the end of October, Tuesday to Friday from 10.30am to 4.30pm, weekends and bank holidays from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Entry is free - but donations are certainly not declined!

For more info on Timber Frame Restoration visit www.timberframerestoration.co.uk

And to find out more on the Museum see www.heritagehenley.org.uk