World Architecture Day: The Barrel-Vaulted Roof of the Stone Building at Middleton Hall
The Stone Building is the oldest surviving structure at Middleton Hall. Documentary evidence and architectural features date this structure to between 1247 and 1285. One of its most noted original features is its barrel-vaulted roof and many of the roof’s timbers have been identified as 13th century. Given the structural alterations that occurred at Middleton Hall over the centuries, it is fair to describe its survival as miraculous. The 5th October 2026 is World Architecture Day and to mark it this post will focus on this stunning architectural feature at Middleton Hall.
The barrel-vaulted roof style is also known as the tunnel-vault because the shape generated by the structure forms a single curve, like the roof of a tunnel. The shape has also been likened to that of an upside-down hull of a boat. When made of timber, it can be formed through the use of a pair of curved timbers and this formed what is known as a pointed barrel-vaulted roof. This is the type that was erected at Middleton Hall.
The barrel-vaulted roof style is an ancient style of roof, being used in ancient Egyptian and Roman architecture. In the later Romanesque architectural style, it was the dominant roof style. The Romanesque architectural period was prevalent in England later than in Europe, having been brought to England in 1066 as a result of the Norman Conquest. Hence, in England, it is often alternatively known as the Norman architectural style. This style was heavily influenced by traditional Roman architecture and, in particular, the rounded arches of that style.
The Romanesque style remained dominant until the end of the 13th century, when the Gothic style replaced it. However, the change did not occur suddenly. The first phase of this evolution, which is known as the Early English, emerged in the late-12th century and continued until about 1280. It remained very similar to the Romanesque, but the features began to become more pointed. In the Gothic style, the barrel-vaulted roof was replaced by the hammerbeam and the ribbed styles of roof.
One of the key aspects of Romanesque architecture was very thick walls. On the ground floor of the Stone Building, the walls are 80cm thick, although on the first floor the thickness is only half that in order to create a ledge for the first-floor floorboards. This architectural style was also marked by having few windows and those that were present were small. In the Stone Building, only one of the original small windows remains, which is in the ground floor west wall. These two specific aspects were of vital importance to ensure the structural integrity of the barrel-vaulted roof.
One of the main reasons that barrel-vaulted roofs are so highly valued, but also the reason why the style was replaced, was because they had a high rate of collapse. The reason they collapsed so frequently was because barrel-vaulted roofs exerted massive outward lateral thrust along their entire length. Thus, they only needed a slight movement, bowing or stability reduction in a supporting wall for the whole roof to catastrophically collapse.
Over the centuries, the Stone Building underwent numerous renovations that resulted in multiple new doorways and windows cut into the walls. Furthermore, parts of the stonework were replaced by bricks. Given the considerable vulnerability of barrel-vaulted roofs to any movement in its supporting walls, it is unexplainable how the Stone Building’s barrel-vaulted roof managed to survive almost completely intact.
The specific barrel-vaulted roof at Middleton Hall was described as a trussed-rafter pointed barrel-vaulted roof. This shape was formed by pairs of timbers and created a solid flat gable end at both the north and south ends. From the time of its construction until the 18th century, it was internally open to the rafters. The trussed-rafter part of the description meant that, from the time of its first construction, horizontal laths, also known as battens, had been applied to the external side of the vaulting framing. To complete its outer covering, tiles were then affixed to them using lath nails. Some of these original tiles survived to the time of the restoration by Middleton Hall Trust and it is known they were buff-coloured with a green glaze. This glaze was lead-based and the green hue came from copper.
Despite the significant age of the vaulting timbers, they are not in fact the oldest timbers used in the construction of the roof. The wall plate beam, which forms the base of the roof, that is situated along the top of the east wall of the Stone Building was already a re-used timber when the roof was first created. This piece of timber is the oldest at Middleton Hall and has been identified as previously having been a ridge purlin in a substantial structure. Although an exact date could not be provided when it was analysed, it was believed to date, at its latest, from the early 13th century. As a result, it is thought that it might have been from the earlier building that the foundations indicate was in the same position and had the same length as the Stone Building.
The Stone Building was built without a chimney, because that technology came after its construction. In the 17th century, when the corner fireplaces were added, a chimney was cut straight through the barrel-vaulting timbers.
In the 18th century, during the Georgian Renovation of Middleton Hall, various alterations were made to the roof frame, specifically: a dormer window was cut into the west slope; lath and plaster was applied to the internal roof facia covering all of the internal vaulting timbers; and a garret was formed across the base. However, the most stunning aspect of that renovation was that a new hipped roof was constructed over the top of the existing roof frame. This enabled the external style to match the fashion newly applied to the remainder of the Hall and yet still preserve the ancient roof timbers. Not even the external tiles were removed and they were preserved for centuries in the tight space between the two roofs.
The Stone Building was restored by Middleton Hall Trust and English Heritage between 2007 and 2010. It was during this restoration that the original timbers were rediscovered. All of the timbers that were able to be retained were kept and those that were missing, as a result of the 17th and 18th century alterations, were replaced.
Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.
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