Buildings and the building trade in Worcester 1540-1650

Tabulated accounts form the framework for this investigation into the building craftsmen of sixteenth and seventeenth century Worcester and the buildings they produced. Augmented by other research material they have allowed the organisation and financial basis of the building trade to be assessed and the family background and social status of the craftsmen to be examined. The costs and sources of the materials used have also been evaluated and the prices of timber and brick compared during the crucial period when brick was supplanting timber as an economic material. Building methods have also been reviewed. A central aspect of the study is the transformation of the mediaeval house and the effect on the houses of Worcester. For this, local probate records have been analysed to provide material relating to the decline of the hall and the spread of glass windows and masonry chimneys. The shape of the house and the use of space have also been considered. Physical and visual material, standing buildings and photographs and pictures have played a vital part in this study and the interaction between buildings and documentary data is fundamental to the thesis.