Page 20 - Oundle Life May 2022

With the right skills you can read a building
in much the same way as you read a book – thoroughly, chapter by chapter. However, just as you are advised to never judge a book by its cover, you should also be cautious when dating a building by its inscriptions as you
that the datestone is original to the building? The short answer is ‘you don’t!’ In times gone by stone was often salvaged and reused; we call this reused stone ‘spolia’ which is Latin for ‘spoils’. In isolation then, a stone with a date carved into it
could easily be misled.
Some older buildings have dates and letters carved or cast into key building elements to record a significant moment in the building’s origin
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
is little more than an indicator of when the stone was carved, rather than when the building was constructed.
Furthermore, as buildings evolved over time through addition and/or reimagination, dates were sometimes added to record the date of the changes
or evolution. However, many such
buildings also include other tell-tales regarding their past so you are advised to consider all visual indicators before you can reliably declare a likely construction date.
At first glance a datestone embedded in the façade of a building might appear to disclose the age of the building. But how do you know
rather than the date of original construction. Generally, this ‘makeover’ date was recorded in carved stone but on occasion it was recorded in other elements such as lead hoppers used to connect rainwater gutters and downpipes.
Its not just dates that tell a story either. Marriage stones or nuptial stones were also
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