Isaac Lord
©Richard Bond
©Richard Bond
Region: East of England
Local Authority: Ipswich
Owner Type: Private
Funding Body: English Heritage
Year of Intervention: 1998 - 2002
Summary: Informing an appropriate repair strategy- detailed structural recording and tree-ring dating has provided a wider understanding of the early fabric of Isaac Lord Merchant's House, proving that it contains a rare medieval survival.
Description: Isaac Lord Merchant’s House is a complex, multi-phase, timber-framed and plastered building. It has a cross-wing at the east end and a central carriage entrance.
Issue: An assessment of the survival and significance of early fabric surviving in this complex building was necessary to enable appropriate repairs to be undertaken.
Strategy: Detailed structural recording and tree-ring dating was carried out. This demonstrated that the building is probably the last surviving example of a sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Merchant’s House in Ipswich.
Outcome: Thus tree-ring dating was able to show that this complex is of even more significance than previously thought, including a medieval range. This information has been used to inform repair specifications, and the building has been re-listed at Grade I.
Keywords: Assessment and Characterisation, Designation, Repair, Reconstruction & Restoration
© Bridge, M and Bond, R