173, High Street,

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

, is a medieval building in Hertfordshire, England. It is considered to be the oldest extant

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the avail ...

timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

building in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, dated by dendrochronology of structural timbers to between 1277 and 1297. At the time of the building's construction, the town of Berkhamsted was a relatively large, flourishing wool trading market town that benefited from having an important royal castle.

History

The building was given a Victorian facade and was used as a pharmacy in the nineteenth century. Its historical significance was not recognised until 2001 when it was Grade II* listed after the medieval timber framing was exposed during renovation work. It is currently used as an

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged ...

's. The building received two grants from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, one for investigations and one for conservation work. Dr

Simon Thurley Simon John Thurley, (born 29 August 1962) is an English academic and architectural historian. He served as Chief Executive of English Heritage from April 2002 to May 2015. Early life and education Thurley was born in Huntingdon and grew up in ...

, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said "This is an amazing discovery. It gives an extraordinary insight into how Berkhamsted High Street would have looked in medieval times." Initially, the investigations suggested that it had always been a shop, as there was evidence for the existence of a

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabricat ...

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

's shop with a workshop behind. This generated headlines to the effect that the country's "oldest shop" had been discovered. The age of the building would make it a contender for the title,Other claimants for the title of oldest shop appear to be of more recent construction: but there is doubt about how long it served as a shop. It is now believed to have originally been a jettied service wing to a larger aisled hall house, which has since disappeared.

References

Sources

*154.40 167.26 * {{Authority control 13th-century architecture in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Berkhamsted Grade II* listed buildings in Hertfordshire Shops in England Timber framed buildings in Hertfordshire

History

See also

References

Sources