Trail:

Glossary

Geometric
English Gothic architecture c. 1240-1290. During this period the French invention of bar tracery allowed for larger windows subdivided by stone mullions and tracery, in place of the single lancets of the Early English style. Geometrical tracery is the earliest kind of this bar tracery, i.e. with patterns formed by intersecting moulded ribwork continuing upwards from the mullions, using simple forms, especially circles, chiefly foiled.
Geometrical stair
A stair cantilevered from the walls of the stairwell, without newels.
Georgian
Built 1775-86.
The architecture of the British Isles in the reigns of George I, II, III and IV, i.e. 1714-1830, in which the classical style and classical proportions became the norm for both major and minor buildings.
Giant order
No. 14 Abbey Yard
In classical architecture, an order whose height is that of two or more storeys of the building to which it is applied. Also called a colossal order.
Gibbs surround
An opening embellished with alternating or intermittent blocks, seen particularly in the work of James Gibbs (1682-1754).
Gib door
A concealed door, made flush with the wall surface and treated to resemble it; more often spelt jib door.
Girder
A large beam. Box girder: of hollow-box section. Bowed girder: with its top rising in an arch. Lattice girder: with braced framework. Plate girder: of I-section, made from iron or steel plates.
Gisant
In a monument, an effigy depicted as a naked corpse; also called a cadaver.
Glaciated
Of masonry, carved in the form of icicles; hence e.g. glacial quoins. Also called frost-work.
Glacis
Artificial slope extending out and downwards from the parapet of a fort.