Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Font: Vessel in a church or chapel for baptismal water, usually of stone or lead.
Fore-building: Structure protecting an entrance.
Forestair: External stair, usually unenclosed.
Formwork: Temporary framing of timber or metal used for casting concrete; also called shuttering.
Fosse: A defensive ditch.
Four-centred arch: An arch with four arcs, the lower two curving inward more than the upper, with a blunt central point; typical of late medieval English architecture.
Framed building: One in which the structure is carried by a framework – e.g. of steel, reinforced concrete or timber – instead of by load-bearing walls.
Fran: Egham, Surrey
The style of the early French Renaissance (Francis I, king 1515-47), marked especially by an all-over use of small-scale classical ornament.
Frater: The dining hall of an abbey or monastery, traditionally placed in the south range of the cloister. Also called a refectory.
Freestone: Stone that is cut, or can be cut, in all directions.