From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/05/ndoor05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/05/ixhome.html
Posted on 08/05/2005 11:42:24 AM PDT by wagglebee
A 900-year-old door - once thought to be covered in human skin - has been identified as the oldest in the UK.
Archaeologists discovered the oak door in Westminster Abbey was put in place in the 1050s, during the reign of the Abbey's founder, Edward the Confessor.
It makes it the only surviving Anglo Saxon door in Britain.
Tests also showed fragments of hide stuck to the door - which legend said was the skin of a punished man - was cow hide, said an Abbey spokeswoman.
Stuff of legend
Research on the door was funded by English Heritage and took three months to complete.
It is thought it has only survived because it is indoors and has been in constant use.
The Abbey spokeswoman continued: "It has long been obvious that the battered and insignificant-looking wooden door must be ancient but its true age has eluded discovery.
"In the 19th century it was noticed that there were fragments of hide adhering to the door and a legend grew up suggesting that these were human.
"It was supposed that somebody in the Middle Ages had been caught committing sacrilege in the Abbey, had been flayed and his skin nailed to the door as a deterrent to other would-be felons."
Chapter House
The door is made from one tree, with its rings suggesting it grew between AD 924 and 1030. It has five panels and is 6.5ft high by 4ft wide.
It opens into the octagonal Chapter House, where monks met every day for prayers in the 13th century.
Parliament temporarily resided in it in the 14th century and staff store religious documents there now.
Archaeologist Warwick Rodwell said: "The ring-pattern displayed by the timber indicates that the tree grew in eastern England and almost certainly came from the extensive woodland owned by the Abbey, possibly in Essex."
I would have thought that constant use would have made the door deteriorate more quickly.
GGG Ping.
Anglican (sort of) ping.
Glad to know that its animal hide. Wouldn't want to speculate that a skinless ghostie walking around looking for his hide.
Some folks will study anything....
Only if you slam it.
Shoot. No picture of it in the BBC article.
a skinless ghostie walking around looking for his hide.Hide 'n seek.
I am sure Helen Thomas was around when it went in.
The necronmicron door?
There is a picture of it in the Guardian, but we can't post from there on FR.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0%2C2763%2C1542670%2C00.html?gusrc=rss
Unless oils from skin and moisture in the rooms kept it from drying out. I'm just guessing.
On a related note, the door to Ted Kennedy's liquor cabinet has been replaced more than six dozen times during his 900 years.
Wait, we determined his age based on his liver condition.
If it survived, it is because it was made of oak, was well built, and well maintained.
Fabulous. ROTFLMFAO.
Knock knock...who is there? Hey Britian has lots of old stuff. Helen Thomas was heard to remark that the hide on the door was George Bush's fault tho!
Fantastic!
Unless the Anglo-Saxons ruled some other countries which have slipped my mind, this is probably the only surviving Anglo-Saxon door in the world. Of course, there could be equally old wooden doors elsewhere...just not Anglo-Saxon.
Intersting how the five panels are of irregular width. The fact that it was made of a single tree must be the reason.
I see a "This Old House; The Middle Ages" special episode in all this...
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