Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Hammerposts: In a hammerbeam roof, vertical timbers between the hammerbeams (horizontal brackets projecting at wall-plate level) and the purlins (horizontal longitudinal timbers); braced to a collar-beam above.
Hamper: In 20th-century and later architecture, a visually distinct topmost storey or storeys.
Harling: (Scots and Northern Irish; lit. hurling): Wet dash, i.e. a form of roughcast rendering in which the mixture of aggregate and binding material is dashed onto a wall.
Hatchment: A lozenge-shaped panel painted with armorial bearings, used in funeral ceremonies and often afterwards displayed in a church.
Header: A brick laid with its short end exposed. A flared header is burnt to a darker shade, usually producing a patterned effect.
Header bond: Brickwork with only the headers (short ends) of the bricks exposed.
Headstop: A terminal to a hoodmould or label (projecting moulding above an arch or lintel) carved with a head.
Helm roof: A pyramidal roof set diagonally on a tower, so that it meets the walls by means of gables.
Henge: Ritual earthwork.
Herm: (lit. the god Hermes): Male head or bust on a pedestal.