existing mullions. It seems likely, therefore, either that these beams are re-used from another building — not necessarily a porch on the same site — or that there has been some alteration of the structure here — a change in the forms of the openings perhaps. The lower panels, beneath the rails, are filled with flint, an unusual though not unknown panel filling. It is possible that this is a primary feature, but at least equally likely that it replaces original planking; this could have been housed in grooves (like the window-head boards) and hence impossible to replace without dismantling the whole porch; examples are known in timber porches and in barns.⁴⁴  The construction at the top of each side wall includes two plates (as at Fawkham):
the wall-plate proper, whose end-jointing has already been described, and an ashlars’ plate, which is held in a rebate cut from the upper arris of the wall-plate and tenoned into the tie-beams at the ends. (The northern junctions have been renewed). The wall-plate is moulded with a three-quarter-round roll within a casement; the ashlars’ plate moulding is somewhat similar (Fig.3, detail at A).
   The roof is of crown-post construction, the crown-posts being square-sectioned and plain, apart from a fillet on each, towards the interior of the porch. These fillets continue the line of the flat, only slightly curved arch-braces which run from the crown-posts up to the

collar-purlin. The latter is tenoned into the back of the front-face crown-post, not supported on it. The rafters of the main ‘trusses’ are tenoned into the tops of the tie-beams, and sprockets fixed onto their tops continue the line downwards. The intermediate rafters, on the other hand are set in notches in the wall-plate, which they then oversail for a short distance; in consequence, they require smaller sprockets. On the interior, the ashlars’ plate supports short ashlars, one to each of the intermediate rafters. At collar-purlin level a collar is provided for each rafter-pair; further strengthening is provided by the pair of struts or soulaces to each collar. The rafters are halved together at their heads, whilst mortise-and-tenon joints are otherwise used in the roof construction; these are chased where the context demands it. A feature of some interest is the series of rafter-holes a short distance above the feet of the intermediate rafters; there are original carpenter’s numbers (in Roman numerals) cut into these rafters, close to the holes.
   The porch is finished at the front face with a pair of carved barge-boards, masking the wall-plate projections and the front-face
   ⁴⁴  Eg. the timber-framed porch at Stanstead Abbotts, Herts. (personal observation). For Kent barns vide S.E. Rigold, 'Some major Kentish Timber Barns’. Arch. Cant. lxxxi, (1966), 1-30.