Name	Glossary A-C D-H J-M O-P S-W
AISLE-POST	A post, supporting the roof, sited within the containing walls of the building, the aisle lying between the post and the outer wall.
AISLE-TRUSS	A roof-truss supported mainly or partly on aisle-posts.
ARCADE-PLATE	A longitudinal timber resting on aisle-posts and carrying the roof of an aisled building. In contrast with the purlin, which is set raking, the arcade-plate is set square.
ARCH-BRACE	A curved timber joining the vertical and horizontal members of a truss, e.g. wall-post and tie-beam, or blade (or principal) and collar-beam.
ASHLAR	Masonry wrought to a smooth face with square edges.
ASHLARING	A vertical panel between the wall top and the sloping roof on the inside of a building, somewhat similar to a cornice in classical architecture.
ASTYLAR	Without columns (usually applied to a building in the classical style).
BASE-CRUCK	A cruck terminating at the collar.
BLADE	The main sloping member of a through-purlin roof-truss, usually used in connection with crucks or derived forms of construction and in contrast with principal (the main sloping member of a butt purlin roof-truss).
BOLECTION MOULDING	A bold moulding raised above the general plane of the framework of door-way, fireplace or panelling (popular in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries).
BOSS	A square or round projecting ornament, often covering the intersections of vault, ceiling or roof.
BUTT-PURLIN	See Tenon-purlin.
BYRE-HOUSE	House and byre in the same range without a structural division between them. In Wales hypothesised from excavated sites, but seemingly still surviving in western Scotland and western Ireland. Some Welsh long-houses may be re-built byre-houses.
CHAMFER	A bevelled edge, either plain or variously moulded.
COLLAR	Horizontal member joining the sloping members of a roof well above wallplate level.
COLLAR-PURLIN	A longitudinal roof member running under the collars and usually carried on crown posts. The collar-purlin is characteristic of south-eastern partially-bayed roof construction.
COLLAR-RAFTER ROOF	A roof in which each pair of rafters is joined by a collar and is self-supporting without the need of supporting trusses.
CONTAINING WALL	The outside walls of a building in contrast to the partition walls sub-dividing it internally, and the party walls dividing it from a neighbouring property alongside.
CORBEL	A projection from a wall designed to carry floor-beam, roof-truss, or over- hanging wall.
CORINTHIAN	An order of classical architecture characterised by a capital carved in the form of flowering acanthus leaves.
CROSS-PASSAGE	The space between the opposed doorways at the end of most medieval halls and many sub-medieval storeyed houses. The `passage' is not necessarily enclosed. It is usually open to the hall in the medieval house, and in later houses it may be open to the hall or to the outer room.
CROWN-POST	A post between the tie and the collar carrying the collar-purlin.
CRUCKS	Pairs of large timbers inclined from the ground or from near ground level towards the apex and carrying the roof by means of a ridge-beam and through purlins.
CUSPING	The projecting points between small arcs in a timber frame, doorway or traceried window; also used to describe the whole decorative effect.
CYCLOPEAN DOORWAY	Doorway where the head and jambs are made of large riven slabs set on edge.

Name	Glossary-2 D-H A-C D-H J-M O-P S-W
DAIS-CANOPY	A cove overhanging the dais.
DAIS-END	The end of a hall where the head of the household and his family customarily sat, the opposite end from the entrance.
DENDROCHRONOLOGY	The technique of dating timber by the study of tree rings.
DOG-LEG STAIR	A stair in parallel flights but opposed directions from common landings, the standard stair in the middle-sized later Renaissance house.
DOUBLE-PILE HOUSE	A house two rooms wide throughout its length, generally arranged in two blocks divided by a central spine wall which carries the valley between two parallel roofs. A common plan after ca 1700.
DRAGON-BEAM	A diagonal beam to support the corner of a jettied floor.
FIELD	A thin timber board framed in wainscotting.
GABLE	The vertical termination of a roof. See also pine-end.
GAVELKIND	The division of an estate equally between the heirs - partible inheritance.
GOLDEN SECTION	A rectangle of ideal proportions having one side the length of the diagonal of the square of the return.
GUILLOCHE	An ornament used in classical architecture formed by two intertwining bands in regular curves.
HALL HOUSE	A house where the main room occupies the full height of the building, with-out any floor over.
HAMMER-BEAM ROOF	A roof-truss where opposed cantilevers (hammer-beams) carry vertical posts (hammer-posts) or form the springing for arch-braces.
HIPPED ROOF	A pitched roof with sloping ends (as opposed to vertical gables).
HOUSE-AND-BYRE HOMESTEAD	A farmstead in which the house, byre, and other farm buildings are in the same range. Includes byre-house, laithe-house, and long-house as special sub-classes.

Name	Glossary-3 J-M A-C D-H J-M O-P S-W
JETTY	The overhang of an upper floor (usually applied only to timber construction)
JOINTED CRUCK JOISTS	A composite cruck made up of two or sometimes three pieces of timber mortised together.
JOISTS	The timbers supporting the floor-boards; in old houses the joists themselves are usually carried on beams.
KING-POST	A vertical post carrying the ridge-beam.
LAITHE-HOUSE	House, byre, and barn in the same range, the barn and byre constituting a single unit or `laithe'. Common in the north of England, sometimes found in Wales.
LATERAL WALL	The long wall in a rectangular building in contrast with the short end wall.
LONG-HOUSE	A house and byre combined in the same range in such a way that there is direct internal access between hall and byre.
LOUVRE	An aperture in the roof for the escape of smoke from an open hearth.
LOUVRE-TRUSS	A small truss mounted on the purlins framing a louvre opening.
MANSARD ROOF	A roof formed with two pitches on each side, the lower steeper than the upper, designed to provide maximum space in the roof.
MASS WALL	A wall of earth, stone, or bricks in contrast with a framed wall of timber.
MORTISE	A slot cut in one piece of timber to receive a projecting tenon formed from another piece of timber to be attached to it.
MASS WALL	A wall of earth, stone, or bricks in contrast with a framed wall of timber.
MORTISE	A slot cut in one piece of timber to receive a projecting tenon formed from another piece of timber to be attached to it.
MULLION	A vertical post dividing a window.

Name	Glossary-4 O-P A-C D-H J-M O-P S-W
OGEE	An S -shaped curve
OUTSHUT	A lateral projection of the same build as the main body of the house and under a continuation downwards of the main roof.
OVOLU	Strictly egg-shaped, but often used loosely to describe a quarter-round moulding.
PANTILE	An S-shaped, interlocking, single-lap tile, in contrast with the double-lap plain tile.
PASSAGE	See cross passage.
PEDIMENT	The vertical termination of the roof of a classical building, usually of a lower pitch than a gable, but functionally the same. Used also as an ornament over doorways and windows.
PENTAN	The fire back.
PENDANT	A hanging ornament.
PEN-ISAF	The `lower end', the outer room at the passage end (in northern English the `down-house').
PERPENDICULAR STYLE	The last phase of Gothic architecture in England and Wales, emerged about 1350 and was gradually superseded by classical architecture in the seventeenth century. The hall-mark of the style is the four-centred arch.
PILASTER	A shallow pier of rectangular section attached to the wall.
PINE-END	The gable-end, an English dialect word in common use in Wales. The Welsh would be Taken ty - `the forehead of the house'.
PORTICO	A porch in the classical style, supported on columns and often extending the length of one or more sides.
POST-AND-PANEL PARTITION	A partition made up of thick vertical posts into which thinner vertical panels are slotted. Not to be confused with the outwardly similar and usually later `in-and-out' partition where the vertical members are of equal thickness.
PRINCIPAL	Short for principal rafter, the main sloping member of a butt-purlin roof (in contrast with the blade of a through-purlin roof).
PURLIN	A longitudinal roof member supporting the rafters of a bayed roof.

Name	Glossary-5 S- W A-C D-H J-M O-P S-W
SCARFED-CRUCK	A cruck made up of two pieces of timber in which the sloping member is scarfed onto the vertical member.
SCREENS PASSAGE	A cross passage flanked by a partition or screens between the passage and the hall.
SIDE-PURLIN	A horizontal longitudinal roof member placed under the sloping rafters, in contrast with a collar-purlin placed under the collars.
SILL	The lowest horizontal member of a window, timber-framed wall or partition
SLIP-TENON	A short connector inserted between two opposed mortises.
SOLAR	A retiring room in a medieval house.
SOLE-PIECE	A short horizontal member placed on the wall top beneath a roof truss.
SPANDREL	The space at each side of an arch.
SPERE-TRUSS	An aisle-truss placed as an open screen between the hall and the passage. The speres are the same as aisle posts.
SPUR	A horizontal tie, lap-jointed to the cruck and carrying the wall plate. An alternative to the slip-tenon.
STRING (1)	1: A horizontal band or projection from the face of a wall.
STRING (2)	2 A sloping bearer carrying the treads of a stair.
STUD	A light vertical member of a wall or partition (in contrast to a main upright member or post).
SUB-MEDIEVAL	Post-medieval, but retaining medieval elements.
SUNK-CHAMFER	A chamfer in which the main face is recessed (sometimes called a reserved chamfer).
TENON	A projecting piece of timber designed to fit into a mortise.
TENON or BUTT-PURLIN	A purlin tenoned into the principal so that the upper surface of the purlin lies below the upper surface of the principal which also acts as a rafter.
THROUGH-PURLIN	A purlin which lies on the back of the blade, its upper face either flush with the upper side of the blade or projecting above it. The blade does not act as a rafter.
TIE-BEAM	A beam at the level of the wall top joining the principals or blades, resisting their outward thrust.
TRANSHUMANCE	The practice of moving one's abode into the mountain pastures during the summer months along with the flocks and herds.
TRUSS	A framework supporting a roof.
UPPER CRUCK	A cruck truss springing from the level of the ceiling beams.
WAINSCOTTING	Panelling in framed fields, intended to cover a structural wall or partition. A longitudinal timber lying on the top of a wall to carry the rafters. An upright timber in a wall designed to carry a roof or Door..
WALL-POST	An upright timber in a wall designed to carry a roof or floor
WELL-STAIR	A staircase of several flights arranged around an open space or well.
WINDBRACE	A diagonal brace between purlin and truss designed to resist distortion and also to support the purlin.