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A
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- Abutment
- The general mass of masonry that supports one end of the arch. In bridge building it is also the part that meets the roadway, and it is also the base part of bridge piers,;
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- Accolade
- In architecture, an ornamental treatment over an opening consisting of ogee curves. Mostly over an arched window or door. ;
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- Arcade
- In Architecture. A succession of arches sat on columns each thrusting on it's neighbour. A covered walkway bounded by such arches.;
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- Arch
- A group of masonry units that span an opening. ;
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- Arch Bar
- A piece of flat steel or angle iron that supports brickwork in a straight span.;
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- Arched Corbel Table
- A wide projecting masonry ledge supported by as series of corbels that are connected by arches. ;
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- Archivolt
- An architrave that continues around an arched opening following the curve of the arch.;
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- Ashlar Masonry
- Masonry composed of rectangular units. Accurately cut, squared and dressed. Laid on a mortar bed. ;
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B
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- Backup Wall
- A main structural wall to which the veneer stonework is fixed.;
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- Basket Weave Bond
- A pattern made up of pairs of bricks placed in a square grid.;
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- Bell Arch
- A Roman arch sat on corbels that are imposts.;
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- Bond
- In masonry, and in particular brickwork, one of a number of methods of overlapping bricks usually in a regular and recognisable pattern, to increase the strength and appearance of brickwork.;
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- Bond Stone
- A larger stone laid in the backup wall that projects into the veneer layer to bond the veneer to the backup wall.;
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- Book Matching
- Veneer slabs cut and assembled so that one slab will match the other. As in the opened pages of a book.;
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- Brick
- A manufactured man-made masonry unit typically of a small enough size to be held and laid by one hand. Traditionally formed from plastic clay and then subjected to heat in a kiln.
Modern bricks can be of other materials and solid or hollow.;
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- Brick Closures
- Various cut bricks usually at the ends of walls or reveals used to finish off the wall. Also called Closers.
Page contains details of Half or Bat; Three Quarter; Quarter; Split; Queen Closure; King Closure.;
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- Brick Corbel
- A step or a series of steps making the brickwork project farther out from it's original face.;
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- Brick Quoins
- Pronounced "coins" these are the end bricks of a wall. The corner bricks. Also refers to one vertical end of a wall, or a section of the end that is raised up first in the building sequence.;
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- Bricklayer - Bricklaying
- A person who lays bricks. The trade of bricklaying is a manual skill that has been acquired traditionally by serving a period of apprenticeship until qualified. ;
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- Bricklayers Hammer
- A hammer usually with a square head and with an opposing chisel for cutting bricks and stone.;
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- Brickwork
- Walls and other structures made from bricks.;
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- Bullseye
- A round or oval aperture. Often containing a window.;
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- Bullseye Arch
- Also called a circular arch. Much used for windows.;
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- Buttress
- An external masonry mass set against or built into a masonry wall to resist forces at right angles (lateral) to the wall. For example the outward thrust of a roof.;
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C
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- Cams
- In masonry: Vertical stones fixed at the top of walls in sheep grazing areas to stop sheep jumping the wall.;
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- Cavity Wall
- Two wythes of masonry, usually brickwork used as an external wall. The wall cavity provides thermal insulation and a moisture barrier.;
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- Cavity Ties
- Pressed metal, wire or plastic ties that are used to tie the separate wall sections or wythes together in cavity brick wall construction.;
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- Common Bond
- In brickwork, similar to stretcher bond but with a row of headers inserted every few courses. Also called American Bond and English Garden Wall Bond;
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- Coping
- A capping layer on top of masonry to protect it and to shed water. Can be many materials including brick, stone, slate, ceramic tiles etc.;
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- Coping Stone
- Also called just coping, a capping stone. A masonry cover to the top of a wall or pillar etc.;
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- Corbel
- A masonry unit that projects out from the face of a wall, chimney or pillar. Or a series of such steps used to support an overhanging member;
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- Corbel Course
- A masonry course corbelled out that forms a continuous ledge. ;
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- Corbel Table
- A projecting masonry ledge or string course supported by corbels. ;
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- Coursed Ashlar
- Ashlar work that is laid in courses that may vary in height.;
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- Coursed Squared Rubble
- Stonework where the blocks have been squared and brought to regular horizontal courses. The courses can be different heights.;
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- Crown
- The top section of a curved arch (or road camber etc).;
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D
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- Diagonal Buttress
- A buttress at an external corner set at 135 degrees to each wall face to take outward thrust from both walls.;
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- Dressed Stonework
- Stonework that has worked to shape with the faces that are seen brought to a smooth finish.;
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- Drop Arch
- A Gothic or pointed arch with the radii of the arcs less than the span.;
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- Dry Stone Wall
- Stonework where the stones are laid dry with no mortar joint. The term chiefly refers to walls in rural areas that perform the function of a wall using natural rocks from the adjacent land, thus helping to also clear the land for other use. ;
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E
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- Elliptical Arch
- An arch based on the ellipse form;
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- English Bond Brickwork
- A brickwork bond that derived in England. It consists of alternating rows of headers and stretchers.;
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- Equilateral Arch
- A Gothic or pointed arch based on an equilateral triangle.;
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- Extrados
- A construction line denoting outer limit of the arch. It is used in the setting out.;
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F
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- Facestones
- The smaller stones on each face of thick walls.;
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- Feathers and Wedges
- Tools for splitting stone. A series of holes are drilled along a
line and iron feathers are inserted. Then iron wedges are driven
between them splitting the rock along the line. Also called plugs and feathers.;
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- Feature Brickwork
- Brickwork that can be structural or purely decorative, but intended to stand out from the rest. To create an impression;
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- Fieldstones
- Stones loose on the ground, not from a quarry.;
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- Flare Headers - Stretchers
- In brickwork, bricks that are of a different colour than the main, used to pick out patterns.;
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- Flat Arch
- Also called a Jack Arch. A straight arch along the springing line with a flat Intrados. The masonry units are laid out as Voussoirs angled to a centre below the arch. ;
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- Flemish Bond
- In brickwork a bond consisting of alternate headers and stretchers in each course. Each header being centred on the stretcher above and below.;
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- Flemish Garden Wall Bond
- A brick bond for lightly loaded walls that consists of alternating three stretchers and a header. Staggered every course. ;
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- Flint Walls
- Extremely hard and durable walls out of flint stone, using nodules or rocks of flint that have been knapped to give a decorative face. .;
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- Flying Buttress
- An iconic feature of Gothic masonry. An arched brace that transmits the lateral forces from a roof or vaulted ceiling to a masonry buttress;
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- Freestone
- Fine-grained sandstones or limestones that can be readily worked in any direction. ;
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- French Arch
- A flat arch that uses parallel sided voussoirs.;
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- Frog
- An indentation in the bottom surface of a brick.;
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G
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- Gothic Arch
- A pointed arch based on two segments of a circle, usually of the same radius.;
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H
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- Haunch
- The first few voussoirs up from the springing line. ;
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- Header
- A masonry unit that is seen end on.;
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- Herringbone Bond
- A decorative brick pattern used in brick paving and walls. The bricks are laid in alternating rows at 45 degrees to each other.;
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I
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- Impost
- The masonry piece that one end of the arch sits on.;
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- Intrados
- A construction line denoting inside limit of the arch. It is used in the setting out. Not be be confused with the soffit which is a surface.;
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- Islamic Arches
- A type of arch that is based on arcs of circles that has the centreline of the circle(s) higher than the springing line, making the body of the arch wider than the narrowest part of the opening.;
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J
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- Jumper or Riser
- Large blocks that that are two or three times larger than the smallest ones. They rise above and s break the course lines.;
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K
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- Keystone
- In stonework the keystone is a central voussoir that is quite often decorated in some way. When the arch is being built it is always built up evenly from side to side and the last stone placed is the keystone.;
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L
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- Lakeland Stone
- A type slate stone and the stonework and stone walling that it produces that is particular to the English Lake District.;
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- Lancet Arch
- A Gothic or pointed arch having a rise of greater than the span. A narrow pointed arch.;
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- Lath and Plaster
- An old method of plastering mostly internal walls and ceilings using a lime putty and closely spaced timber laths.;
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M
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- Mason's Mallet
- Traditionally made out of beech, mason's mallets can now come in plastics and stone. The shape is conical.;
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- Masonry
- The craft of making building walls, bridges and buildings out of stone, brick or other modern building block systems.;
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- Masonry Axes
- Heavy one and two handed axes for rough dressing of stonework;
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- Masonry Buttress
- An external masonry mass set against or built into a masonry wall to resist forces at right angles (lateral) to the wall. For example the outward thrust of a roof.;
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- Masonry Cockscomb
- A wooden hand tool with a few serrated metal cutters for surfacing soft stone.;
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- Masonry Tools
- The tools of the craft of masonry.;
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- Medieval Masonry
- Masonry of the middle ages. Roughly between the 5th and 15th centuries AD;
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- Millstone
- A shaped stone used by millers to grind various grains in the production of flour.;
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- Millstone Grit
- A sharp sandstone rock found in the UK and used for grinding flour and for for sandstone grinding wheels. ;
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- Monk Bond
- A variant of Flemish bond, but with the header centred over the joint between two stretchers.;
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- Monument
- A building or structure, a stone, pillar or megalith erected in memory of a dead person or of a past event.;
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- Monumental Mason
- A mason who specialises in making monuments.;
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O
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- Ogee Arch
- a double curved arch changing from convex to concave circular arcs.;
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P
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- Parging, Pargeting
- A coat, or the application of a coat, of cement render or lime mortar to the surface of stone masonry or brickwork, to improve the appearance or to waterproof it.;
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- Pavement Mason
- A mason who specialises in laying stone or brick pavements. The term is slipping out except in restoration and heritage work of use with most of the modern pavement work being done by concreters.;
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- Perpend
- In masonry the vertical joints. From perpendicular. Commonly called Perps;
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- Pitching Chisel
- A stonemason's steel chisel, in between a bolster and a cold chisel in width and with a single bevel.;
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- Plaster Quoins
- Plastered ends to stone or brick walls in imitation of large dressed stones.;
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- Porcellanite
- A hard and dense rock that is a variety of chert that often contains clay and calcareous matter. Also spelled Porcelanite.;
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R
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- Raking Stretcher Bond
- Similar to stretcher or running bond but the overlap of the bricks is less than half a brick. Usually a third or a quarter. ;
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- Random Ashlar
- Squared or rectangular stones not cut or laid in any particular pattern. ;
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- Rear Arch
- Also known as Arriere-Voussure. A rear vault or arch behind the face of a wall. An arch in a thick wall that carries part of the thickness of the wall, particularly one over a window or door frame.;
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- Relieving Arch
- An arch designed to take the weight of masonry above it off another arch or lintel.;
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- Reveal
- The side faces of an opening in a masonry wall.;
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- Rowlock
- A brick on edge showing it's end on the face of the wall. Also called a Rollock;
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S
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- Scutching Chisels
- Hand or machine operated chisels that can receive scutching combs for dressing masonry.;
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- Scutching Combs
- Hardened steel masonry cutters that are fitted into hammers and chisels. They come in 35mm or 50mm widths. ;
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- Scutching Hammer
- A brick or masonry hammer that is slotted to take scutching combs;
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- Segmental Arch
- An arch that has a curve formed from a segment of a circle. Sometimes called a circular arch.;
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- Semicircular Arch
- Also known as the Roman Arch. based on half of a circle. ;
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- Skewback
- The angled abutment of a flat or segmental arch.;
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- Sneck
- Small blocks that make up the differences in between larger blocks in rubble stonework.;
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- Soffit
- In Masonry. The under surface of an arch or beam. ;
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- Soldier Course
- A course of bricks with the bricks stood up vertically;
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- Springing Line.
- A horizontal construction line denoting the starting of the curve in curved arches, or the bottom of a flat arch.;
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- Stack Bond
- A brick or masonry bond where the all members are aligned vertically. There is no staggered effect or overlapping. Also known as Stacked Bond;
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- Stretcher Bond Brickwork
- A brickwork bond consisting of overlapping stretchers. In the US known as Running Bond.;
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- String Course
- Also called a belt course. A horizontal band of decorative masonry extending across the face of a building or around features such as columns and pilasters.;
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- Surbase Arch
- A Gothic or pointed arch having a rise of less than half the span.;
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T
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- Three Centre Arch
- An arch based on two equal smaller arcs at the abutment-haunch area blending into a single larger radius arc arc at the crown. Also know as a Basket Handle or Anse De Panier.;
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- Throughs
- Large stones at right angles to the face that pass though thick walls tying the faces together. Sometimes called Perpends. (From being perpendicular to the run of the wall). ;
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- Triangular Arch
- A simple arch with a short span, usually with only two inclined stone slabs. ;
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- Tudor Arch
- A pointed arch based on four circular arcs.;
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- Types Of Arches
- A brief introduction to the various types of arches and their uses ;
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V
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- Voussior
- The individual masonry pieces that make up an arch. (In the sketch above their are nine of them.;
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W
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- Weep Holes
- 1.)Holes in the lower section of retaining walls to allow water to pass through the wall.
2.)Raked vertical joints in the outer skin of cavity walls, just above the DPC to allow water to exit the cavity.;
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- Wythe
- 1.)A continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness.
2.) A dividing wall between two adjacent flues in a chimney.
Also spelled Withe.;
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