Woodsome Hall Golf Club has discovered its clubhouse building is a lot older than first thought, and it may now be the oldest original building being used as a golf clubhouse in the world.
After a successful dendrochronology (tree ring dating) process was carried out on the original trusses in the roof of the main hall, the timbers have been dated to the years 1365 to 1462.
The work was carried out by The Nottingham Tree Dating Laboratory and analysis was undertaken on samples from 10 different main structural timbers in the roof of the Great Hall. A total of 98 rings were dated, spanning the years 1365 to 1462. Analysis also suggests it is very likely that all the dated timbers were cut at the same time for the construction of the Great Hall roof.
The report states: “As a result of this dating, the Great Hall should not be referred to as a 16th Century Elizabethan building, but is of late-15th Century Tudor date.”
Woodsome member Phil Sands, who led the project, said: “If Laurence Kaye, who funded much of the building work at Woodsome, were to travel from the 15th Century to today he would still recognise his hall. We also know that Woodsome existed as a settlement from about 1236. There is now a strong case for Woodsome to claim that we have the oldest original building used as a golf clubhouse in the world.”
