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# ✨ Treasure Hoard: Ghost House Gable, Wirksworth
- URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/treasure-hoard-ghost-house-gable-wirksworth/
- Published: 2026-09-02T16:14:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-02T16:14:15.000Z
- Description: Later brickwork has enclosed the frame, preserving it like a fossil within its successor.
- Author: Andy  Marshall
- Tags: Treasure, cruck-frame, timber framed building, post-medieval, archaeology, wirksworth, derbyshire, #treasure-82

**Pevsner says: *"Wirksworth is attractive as an ensemble rather than by means of individual houses.*" I beg to differ - Wirksworth has a host of individual buildings that reflect the mixed variety of materials on offer beneath this little dales town including limestone, brick, lead and timber.**

![A scroll through the buildings of Wirksworth, Derbyshire.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/size/w2000/2023/03/IMG_1110.jpeg)

And then there's that remarkable imprint of a former building within the gable of another - trapped like a fly in amber on St. John's Street. 

The more I look at this building, the more I see: the outline of an old cruck-house, the timber interior construction and the big purlins sticking out like lugs into the brickwork. Then I look at it in abstract - as a negative - and take in the jaunty brickwork. 

The two enormous curved timbers are cruck blades: paired pieces of naturally shaped wood that rose from near ground level and supported the roof. The cross-beams, slender studs and remnants of infill allow us to read the outline of the vanished building. Later brickwork has enclosed the frame, preserving it like a fossil within its successor.

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