Test will confirm exact age of Pontefract's historic Counting House building that could date as far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the English Civil War

Owner Guy Lister is in the process of restoring the building – which could date back as far as the Elizabethan era – though its new use is yet to be decided.

He previously worked on the project with his father Malcolm, who died last year, during the late 1980s and 1990s.

A dendrochronology test will sample the timber used in the building in a similar way to how a tree can be aged.

Mr Lister, an architect, believes the building dates back to sometime between the era of Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603, and King Charles I who reigned from 1625 and was executed in 1649.

Mr Lister said: “The date of building is very important in terms of the chronology of Pontefract and its connection to national historical events like the Pilgrimage of Grace after Henry VIII started to dissolve the monasteries.

“It dates from around the time that Protestants and Catholics were basically at war with each other, and where there was civil war going on in the country.

“It’s interesting to understand what was going on in the wider picture when they were building the Counting House.”

Mr Lister has been working on the project with his son, Jack, 17, who is studying at New College Pontefract.

He considers it to be a family project that has been passed down through generations.

He said: “Back in the 1980s when my father found the building, I worked at Counting House every day for two years' solid.

"I do love that building – a lot of time, effort and perspiration went into it. It's been run down for the last 10 years or so but we want to restore her back to what she was.

"In 1994 she won an award for best restoration in the UK. It was quite an accolade and we want to bring her back to full health and do even more this time.

"We are still considering the new use but we will improve lighting systems, make her environment sustainable heating, and low carbon.

"It's a 21st century restoration for the next hundred years.

"I worked on it and now my son has followed in my footsteps as I did my father. I want my son to understand the sensitivity of working on an old building and the hard graft as well.”

Guy is seeking tenants for the building, and is open to a variety of uses suggested by local people, from a heritage crafts centre to a liquorice museum.

It closed as a pub in 2012 and has been vacant ever since.

The initial restoration work includes lime rendering, plastering, re-roofing, and Guy hopes to have the stone replaced by blue slate.

Specialist heritage craftsmen are being consulted and the plan is for sustainable air-source heat pumps and even solar panels to be installed.

Mr Lister said: "We want to find a new use for it this year and have spoken to prospective tenants already. The lights are back on, it’s being heated again, and I have had interest in its future from all over the world.”