The StratFire project seeks to establish the chronology and extent of the reconstruction of buildings in the medieval town centre, following the disastrous town fires of 1594, 1595 and 1614. Post-fire documentary sources record damage to certain buildings, especially in High Street and Chapel Street, and architectural appraisal indicates that several timber-framed buildings surviving today date from the post-fire period. However, more needs to be established concerning the scale, nature and speed of this rebuilding, and the impact of the fires, both on the economic well-being of the town and the fortunes of the families most seriously affected.

The objective of the project is to determine, by combining building analysis and dendrochronological investigation with archival research, precisely which parts of the town’s main thoroughfare (High Street and Chapel Street) were affected by these town fires, the detailed chronology of the reconstruction work, the similarity (or not) in building design and layout, and the status of the families who were faced with the costs of rebuilding their premises... Read more The project is funded under Historic England’s Heritage Protection Commissions Programme, through contract 8452. The project duration is 42-months, commencing in March 2022, and is managed by Jonathan Devereux with Dr Robert Bearman as the Principal Investigator. We are providing regular progress reports on the properties surveyed in High Street and Chapel Street.

 FIRES      BUILDINGS      DATING      DOCUMENTS