Object of the Month: August 2022
/Old Timber Slice
A fairly nondescript piece of wood - or is it?
This was collected by Eric Benham of Littlehampton some years ago when it was presented as being from the timbers of the Littlehampton floating bridge, otherwise known as the Old Ferry. It’s not known if it came from the first ferry of 1824 or the second of 1874, which although a steel hull also had timber components.
The rectangular slice is 31cm by 33cm and varies between 7cm to 9cm deep, so was possibly cut from a foot square beam. One corner is rounded which suggests a bottom edge timber, and it could have been from either vessel. There remains some marine fouling on one side with evidence of barnacles and a possible water line. This indicates a floating craft of some description, adding support for the ferry claim.
The cross section (probably Pine from the Baltic) clearly shows the annual growth rings and at least 170 years are identifiable. If the section is from the first ferry, the rings give a planting date of around 1650, if from the second it would have been around 1700. In any event, this is clearly a piece of wood with history!
For more on the craft themselves, please see The Old Ferry in the Littlehampton section of Locations.