This is a claim widely made in English towns & settlements which archaeologists James Wright had spent much effort debunking. But these stories must come from somewhere. I found the following in Stow’s Survey of London that seems to provide a source which has been misquoted in the padding years.

“The merchants of Burdeaux were licensed to build at the Vintry, strongly with stone, as may be yet seen, and seemed old, though often repaired; much more cause have these buildings in Petty Wales, though as lately built, and partly of the like stone brought from Caen in Normandie, to seem old, which for many years, since the galleys left their course of landing there, hath fallen to ruin, and been let out for the stabling of horses, to tipplers of beer and such like; amongst others, one Mother Mampudding (as they termed her) for matters kept this house, or a great part thereof, for victualling; ad it seemed that the builders of the hall of this house were shipwrights, and not house carpenters, for the frame thereof (being but low) is raised of certain principal posts of main timber, fixed deep in the ground, without any groundswell, boarded close round about on the inside, having none other wall from the ground to the roof, those boards not exceeding the length of a clap board, about an inch thick, every board leaving over other as in a ship or galley, nailed with the ship nails called rough and clench, to wit, rough nails with broad round heads, and clenched on the other side with square plates of iron. The roof of this hall is also wrought of the like board, and nailed with rough and clench, and seemeth as it were a galley, the keel turned upwards; and I observed that no worm or rottenness is seen to have entered either board or timber of that hall, and therefore, in mine opinions, of no great antiquity. But I leave every man to his own judgement, and pass to other matters.”

Since posting the above, Catherine Rowlands @cjr1968.bskyb.social has been in touch with details of a genuine-possibly unique – building made of ships timbers. These are the images she kindly provided:

A tenuous one is the persistent claims of several buildings on Bristol’s King Street being of ships timbers. This is about the time Huguenots arrived in the city. The most famous is Thomas Paty, omniscient architect & carver who lived near what is now the central library. His family lived in the centre of the city on Old King St before this. His daughter married into the King family of carvers in Bath. Could this be a scrambling of history?

Here’s another take on the topic, from Hando’s Gwent, vol 2. Ed Chris Barber, p 188. Seems tree trunk is interchangeable with the term mast.

Another , recent sighting from X via LizDobson@todbooklady