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Winchesters wooden paving

Sunday 11 March, 2012

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Winchesters wooden sett paving

Full Story:

Whilst visiting Winchester we came across an area of wooden setts in the entrance to the courtyard of the Agilaflex Clinic on Parchment Street - image opposite.

Whilst our stories are usually confined to matters mineral, on this occasion we felt that this “vegetable” required further research. Wooden setts were used to pave city street s during the 19th century, however a combination of horse doings, rain and mud tended to render them a tad on the slippery!

The replacement of wooden setts with granite is an early example of improving the skid resistance of a paved surface, which had to be carried out especially on corners bends and gradients.

But why use wood in the first place? Wooden setts were used in military dockyards and arsenals where there was the risk of horse shoes and iron cart wheels sparking on stone cobbles. There is also some evidence that wooden setts were used to deaden noise – perhaps this was the case in Winchester as there was a hospital on Parchement Street until 1868

It may have simply come down to availability, rounded stone cobbles could have been brought into Winchester from the south coast, however, quality granite setts would needed to have be imported from the West Country, the Channel Isles or even as far away as Leicestershire. As the site is thought to have been the location of a former coach works wood might just have been the material that was readily available!

Whilst we understand that a road paved with wooden setts was discovered last year during resurfacing works in Dundee, as our image shows the only other occasion when we have seen (mini 40mm cube) wooden setts was on the stair treads of the School of Art in Birmingham which was built in 1885.

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