Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Stiff-leaf: English type of late 12th- and early 13th-century decoration in the form of thick uncurling foliage.
Stilted arch: With a vertical section above the impost, i.e. the horizontal moulding at the springing.
Stock bricks: The better kind of bricks, used for outward facing; compare place bricks. Also the yellowish kind of bricks much used in and around London.
Stop: Plain or decorated terminal to mouldings or chamfers at the end of hoodmoulds and labels (label stop), or stringcourses. A headstop is carved with a head.
Stoup: Vessel for holy water, usually near a door.
Strainer arch: An arch inserted in an opening to resist inward pressure.
Strapwork: Late 16th and early 17th-century decoration, like interlaced leather straps.
Stretcher: A brick laid with its long side outermost.
Stretcher bond: Brickwork with only the stretchers (long sides) of the bricks showing.
String: A sloping member holding the ends of the treads and risers of a staircase. A closed string has a continuous upper edge and covers the ends of the treads and risers. An open string is cut into the shape of the treads and risers.