For each period of English architecture, the author discusses several historic timber buildings representative of the time. He concludes that timber buildings can be dated based on the techniques employed for their construction. Includes some 380 line drawings, many of joinery. Appends chronological lists of the buildings' structural joints and decorative features, each of which is briefly described and illustrated by a drawing. A reprint of the 1980 Phillimore book. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.