Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Quirk: Sharp groove to one side of a convex medieval moulding.
Quoins: Dressed or otherwise emphasized stones at the angles of a building, or their imitation in brick or other materials.
Radburn system: Vehicle and pedestrian segregation in residential developments, based on that used at Radburn, New Jersey, USA, by Wright and Stein, 1928-30.
Radiating chapels: Chapels projecting radially from an ambulatory or apse, usually at the east end of a large church.
Rafters: Inclined lateral timbers supporting the roof covering. Common rafters: regularly spaced uniform rafters placed along the length of a roof or between principals; also called coupled rafters. Principal rafters: rafters which also act as principals, i.e. the paired inclined lateral timbers of a truss.
Raggle: Groove cut in masonry, especially to receive the edge of a roof-covering.
Raguly: Ragged (in heraldry). Also applied to funerary sculpture, e.g. cross raguly: with a notched outline.
Rail: A horizontal member in panelling or in a timber-framed wall. See also edge rail, plate rail (railways).
Rainwater-head: A container at the top of a downpipe, usually of lead, into which rainwater runs from the gutters.
Raised and fielded: Of panelling, with the central area of the panel (field) raised up. Also used for stonework treated with sunk or raised panels.