Glossary

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the Town of Stamford. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1977.

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'Glossary', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the Town of Stamford, (London, 1977) pp. 164-165. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/stamford/pp164-165 [accessed 18 March 2024]

GLOSSARY OF THE MEANING ATTACHED TO THE TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THE INVENTORY

Terms for which a sufficient interpretation is given in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 4th ed. (1951), reprinted with revised addenda (1954), have not been included.

Achievement—In heraldry, the shield with helm, crest, mantling, supporters, etc.

Apron—A panel, plain or decorative, below an architectural feature or composition.

ArchDepressed—struck from a centre or centres well below the line of springing.

Flat—having a horizontal soffit.

Nodding—curved forward in advance of the plane of the springing.

ArchitraveEared—having the framing mouldings extended laterally at the head and returned.

Barnack—A hard shelly building stone from the Upper Lincolnshire Limestone; used widely in the 12th and 13th centuries and deriving its name from the village of Barnack.

Bay—The main vertical divisions of a building or feature defined by recurring structural members as in an arcade, a fenestrated elevation or a timber frame.

BeamAxial—in a ceiling, placed centrally on the main axis of the related structure.

Cross—in a ceiling, placed on the short axis of the related structure.

Dragon—in a ceiling, placed diagonally in a corner of a building to carry jetties (q.v.) on the adjacent sides.

Intersecting—in a ceiling, combined axial and cross beams.

Benefactor's table—Tablet or panel recording a benefaction.

Blind—Unpierced by any openings.

Brace—Diagonal timber strengthening a framework.

Arch—curved, usually between wall and roof timbers, and often being one of a pair.

Passing—of considerable length, passing across other members in the roof truss.

Bracket-moulding—Double-ogee moulding.

Brattishing—Upstanding ornamental cresting, particularly of repetitive leaf form.

BricksRubbed—of soft fabric, abraded to special shapes after firing.

Buttress-es—Projecting support to a wall.

Angle—two meeting, or nearly meeting, at right angles at the corner of a building.

Clasping—clasping or encasing the angle.

Diagonal—projecting diagonally at the corner of a building.

Lateral—at the corner of a building and axial with one wall.

Cap—A capital.

CapitalCushion—cut from a cube with its lower angles rounded off to adapt it to a circular shaft.

Stiff-leaf—formed by a number of stylised leaves of lobed form.

Water-leaf—enriched with broad tapering leaves of sinuous form.

Casement—A wide concave moulding in window jambs, etc. Also the hinged opening part of a window.

Console—Scroll-shaped ornamental bracket.

Continuous sills—Window sills continued across the elevation to form a platband.

Crop-mark—Visible variation in vegetation caused by buried or levelled features.

Cross wing—In a house, a wing at the end of, and at right angles to, the main range.

Crown post—In a roof truss, a central post between tie beam and collar.

Cut-out panelling—Carved in low relief, the raised surface remaining flat.

Diamond mullion—Of square section, set diagonally.

Double depth—Of a house the plan of which consists of two parallel ranges of rooms; also known as DOUBLE PILE.

Engaged shaft—A column partly attached in its circumference to an adjacent feature.

Fielded panel—A panel with bevelled margins.

Flush dormer—A dormer window the front of which is flush with the wall face below.

Foil—A leaf-shaped space defined by the cusping in an opening or panel.

Garderobe—A small room containing a latrine.

Hall—In a medieval house, the principal room which was often open to the roof.

HeadFlat—having a rectangular head.

Four-centred—struck from four centres.

Hollow chamfer—A shallow concave moulding.

Impost—The projection, often moulded, at the springing of an arch.

Indent—Sinking, usually for a brass plate.

Jetty—The projection of the upper storey of a building beyond the plane of the wall face below.

Jewelled—Prism-like decoration in relief.

Keel moulding—A moulding, with profile resembling the section through the hull and keel of a boat.

Key-block—Simulated keystone, often of wood.

Kneeler—A corbel or bonding-stone strengthening a gable parapet or coping.

Lucarne—Small gabled window.

Lombardic capitals—Letters based on medieval manuscript alphabets of N. Italy.

Mouchette—In window tracery, a curved dagger-shaped opening.

Nail-head—Ornament, of pyramid form, resembling a nail head.

Nook-shaft—A column shaft in a recess in a jamb, splay or reveal.

Offset—The ledge where one vertical plane of a wall sets back above another.

Orders—In arches, concentric rings of voussoirs receding towards the opening.

Roman Doric—an architectural Order comprising a column, sometimes fluted, moulded capital and base, architrave, frieze with triglyphs, and cornice.

Tuscan—a simple Order, comprising an unfluted column, moulded capital and base, architrave, plain frieze, and cornice.

Oriel window—A projecting window, usually carried upon corbels or brackets; also the large projecting window lighting a hall.

Outshut—A subsidiary range parallel and contiguous to the main range of a building, and with a roof of single pitch.

Overdoor—Decorative panel above a doorway.

Overmantel—Decorative feature or panel above a fireplace surround.

Overthrow—Decorative panelling or ironwork spanning an opening.

Pargetting—Plasterwork with relief or incised decoration.

Patera-ae—In Classical architecture, a dish-like ornament. In Gothic architecture, a flower or lobed-leaf ornament, often square.

PedimentBroken—in which the centre part of the raking cornice and the tympanum are omitted.

Pegging—In a timber-framed structure, dowelling with headless wooden pegs; hence pegholes.

Face-pegging—method of securing timbers by pegs alone, without the use of mortices and tenons.

Pindle—A fissile sandy limestone, used in the early 19th century as a facing material.

Plank-and-muntin—Timber wall construction consisting of vertical planks grooved into stout uprights.

Platband—A projecting flat horizontal band of masonry or brickwork, as distinct from a moulded string.

PostHaunched—in timber-framed construction, a post with a bracket-like swelling on one face to carry a beam.

PurlinClasped—one that is held in notches between the collar beam and the principal rafter.

Collar—in a trussed roof, a horizontal beam running longitudinally beneath the collar beams.

Staggered—one which does not align with its neighbour.

Rail—In carpentry and joinery, the horizontal member of a framed construction.

Reeding—Decoration formed by parallel and adjacent convex mouldings.

Rere-dorter—Monastic latrine.

Reticulated—Net-like; in tracery, a net pattern composed of circular, ogee or other shapes.

Ridge and furrow—Remains of former cultivation; initially strips of tilled land, with furrows on either side, raised by the action of ploughing.

Roll moulding—A prominent continuous convex moulding, also called a Bowtell.

Sash windowHung—in which the movement of the glazed frames is vertical.

Sliding—in which the movement of the glazed frames is horizontal.

Scratch-moulded panelling—Panelling having small plain panels with shallow incised mouldings on the framing.

Screen—In secular buildings, a partition separating the main space of a hall from the service end.

Screens Passage—the space at the service end of a hall between the screen and the end wall.

Service end or wing—In a medieval house, that part at one end of the hall containing the butteries, larders, etc.

Shoulders—Of an arch, the corbels supporting a lintel.

Stages—Divisions of a structure marked by distinct horizontal features.

StaircaseClosed string—with the raking supporting member(s) parallel-sided and housing the treads and risers.

Open or cut-string—with the raking supporting member(s) cut to the shape of the treads and risers.

Stamford ware—Type of pottery made in Stamford dating from the late Saxon period to the 12th century.

Stand paten—A paten with a foot.

Stiff-leaf—See Capital.

Stop—1. Block, often shaped or carved, terminating a projecting moulding such as a string or label.

Head—carved in the form of a human, animal or grotesque head.

Mask—with a pointed profile and chamfered sides.

2. The feature, at the end of a chamfer or moulding, shaped to transfer the latter to a square section, hence stop-chamfered.

Broach—half-pyramidal.

Leaf—of foliate form.

Run-out—dying out gradually.

Straight-joint—An unbonded junction between two structures.

Strapwork—Decoration consisting of interlaced strap-like bands.

String, string-course—A projecting continuous horizontal course or moulding.

Studs—The common uprights in timber-framed walls.

Studwork—Timber framework consisting largely of studs.

Swag—In architectural ornament, a festoon suspended from two points and carved to represent cloth or flowers and fruit.

TraceryFlowing—comprising compound curves.

Geometrical—comprising simple curves.

Net—see RETICULATED.

Vertical—with predominantly vertical mullions.

Truss—An open structural framework, especially of a roof. Closed—having the framework filled, so as to form a partition.

Tusked tenon—Tenon passing through mortice and secured by a peg on farther side of beam or rafter.

Underbuilt—Addition of a wall beneath a jetty (q.v.).

Wall-post—An upright against, or partly in, a wall and supporting a beam.

Water-holding base—A base having a concave moulding, or mouldings, in its upper surface.

Wave moulding—A compound moulding comprising a convex curve between two concave curves.

Weathering—A sloping surface for casting off water.