Tudor vernacular timber and vernacular stone Building Surveys

What are vernacular timber or vernacular stone Houses?

Vernacular Stone properties

In  the 15^th/16^th/17/18^th Century buildings which were traditionally built using local materials are known as vernacular architecture.

In areas where stone is plentiful, we usually find stone vernacular buildings built between 1500s to mid-1800s, sometimes later, particularly in rural areas.  The term vernacular means built from locally sourced materials.  It was not until the Victorian era when we had a good railway system that we were consistently able to source materials from further afield, such as slate roofing.

Stone vernacular buildings have generally been developed over the years and extended and altered as required.  It should be remembered that these type of buildings are often pre-drainage, which was added at a later date, and also heating would have been via fireplaces and local fuel, with radiators being a relatively modern invention.  Everything generally would have been purpose made from the roofs being hand cut, although sometimes these have been replaced over the years, to purpose made windows. 

Often with vernacular buildings the term ‘cottage’ is used.  This is one of many terms that relate to workers on the land ‘cottager’.  Unfortunately, many have been unsympathetically modernised and the people carrying out the work often do not fully understand how older properties work and can therefore inadvertently cause problems, such as replacing the lime mortar typically with a cement mortar and trying to add chemical damp proof courses to a building that is meant to ‘breathe’/dissipate dampness. 

Vernacular Timber properties

Possibly the era most people think of for timber frame construction was the Tudor/Vernacular era, which was 1485-1603, although this type of timber frame building was built before and afterwards. 

They are generally listed buildings due to their historic value.  

These are the buildings that people often call black and white buildings.