Ships timbers

Timbers as found in excavation.
Scale intervals=100mm
(Photo:©York Archaeological Trust)

We are used to seeing re-used stone built into walls, while old bedsteads or doors frequently become parts of fences on allotments and old farms. Recycling of this type is not a modern invention; our canny ancestors have been doing it for centuries, as excavation of a medieval river frontage in York has shown us.

A group of substantial timbers forming a low revetment to the River Foss were discovered during excavation in the 1980s. They had survived in good condition and were carefully removed. Once they had been cleaned of river silt and mud they were found to be old timbers from a ship. It was clear from their condition that they were from a vessel which was already old, patched and decaying before being broken up and used to strengthen the riverbank.

Treatment and analysis

Bringing it alive

Timber nos. 69-75, 1981-2.22.
For more information see The Archaeology of York 17/13, Wood and Wood-Working in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York by Carole A. Morris, with reports on the timbers by D.M. Goodburn and on the caulking by P.W. Rogers; 10/6, Buildings and Land Use at and around 16–22 Coppergate by R.A. Hall and K. Hunter-Mann.