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Glossary

Ha-ha
A retaining wall sunk into a ditch in a landscape garden or park, used to make a barrier without disrupting the view.
Hagioscope
An aperture in a wall or through a pier in a church or chapel, usually to allow a view of an altar. Also called a squint.
Half-column
St George's Hall, Liverpool
An engaged column half of whose circumference projects from the wall.
Half-hipped roof
A gabled roof with a sloped (hipped) end to the upper part only.
Half-tester
A tomb-chest with effigies beneath a flat canopy (tester) attached to a wall, with columns on one side only.
Half-timbering
Archaic term for timber framing. Sometimes used for non-structural decorative timberwork.
Hall-church
A church with nave and aisles of approximately equal height.
Hall-keep
An early type of keep or principal tower in a castle, of rectangular plan, containing the great hall and chief bedchamber.
Hammer-dressed
Of concrete, textured with hammers after casting.
Hammerbeams
In a timber roof, horizontal brackets projecting at wall-plate level like an interrupted tie-beam; the inner ends carry hammerposts, vertical timbers which support a purlin (horizontal longitudinal timber) and are braced to a collar-beam above.