A Braintree hotel has been officially identified as the oldest-known secular building in the town.

Thanks to modern scientific testing, the White Hart Hotel in Bocking End has been dated to 1375.

The only building in Braintree known to be older is St Michael's Church, which dates from the 13th century.

The hotel contains an oak timber frame thought to have formed the end of an aisled hall, a popular form of building among well-off peasants in the 13th century.

Now research carried out on core samples of the frame by Essex County Council and Sheffield University's dendrochronology department has established it is about 150 years older than previously thought.

David Andrews, county council conservation officer, said the wood's age was confirmed by matching the space between the tree rings in it with a graph of thousands of years of tree ring data at Sheffield University.

Hotel manager Stephen Lewis said he was surprised but delighted by the outcome of the study.

He added: "It's something to celebrate, which is why we're holding a medieval banquet on February 1."

Published Monday, January 20, 2003

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