Timber Framed Building Completed

The images below are of the completed model based on a building in Tewkesbury (detailed in this previous post.) The real building appears to be made of two separate shops/houses which have since been knocked though to create larger accommodation or commercial premises. To my untrained eye the building width appears to be based on the narrow strips of rented land know as burgage plots. These were measured in multiples (or fractions) of a perch i.e. 16.5ft. Towns that have developed around planned medieval market layouts, such as Dudley, still often display this uniform shop frontage.

I'd imagined that this model house was that of a well-to-do merchant that has spend his cash on a home improvement and built a decent brick chimney piece. This has to taken at a stretch because bricks would have been very expensive at the time but not unheard of. Castles at Tattershall, Lincolnshire and Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire are both excellent examples of brick built structures constructed during the period now known as the Wars of the Roses. In fact Kirby Muxloe castle was never completed because the owner/builder William Hastings, Baron Hastings, was executed by Richard III in 1483. The castle was simply abandoned almost immediately afterwards. Obviously the model can be used to decorate any game table after this period.

I decided to paint the model in subdued colours for a change. If, and when, I'm in the house building mood I've already designed and drawn details for a timber framed house based on a building in Bridgnorth. I still haven't seen anything I could use to make a convincing thatched roof so I will probably depict a slate roof again.