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Glossary

Relieving arch
An arch incorporated in a wall to relieve superimposed weight. Also called a discharging arch.
Renaissance
Northamptonshire
The revival of classical architecture that began in 15th-century Italy and spread through Western Europe and the Americas in the following two centuries, finding distinctive forms and interpretations in different states and regions. From c. 1830 the Italian version was revived in Britain as a style in its own right (sometimes called Neo-Renaissance or Italianate), i.e. as distinguished from the native Georgian classical tradition.
Rendering
The covering of outside walls with a uniform surface or skin for protection from the weather. Cement rendering: a cheaper substitute for stucco (fine lime plaster), usually with a grainy texture.
Repouss
Relief designs in metalwork, formed by beating it from the back.
Rere-arch
Archway in medieval architecture formed across the wide inner opening of a window.
Reredorter
(lit. behind the dormitory): Latrines in a monastery or abbey, usually placed east of the cloister.
Reredos
Painted and/or sculpted screen behind and above an altar.
Respond
Half-pier or half-column bonded into a wall and carrying one end of an arch. It usually terminates an arcade. A pilaster respond is set at the end of a colonnade, arcade etc. to balance visually the column which it faces.
Retable
Painted or carved panel standing on or at the back of an altar, usually attached to it.
Reticulated tracery
A form of bar tracery used in the early 14th century, with net-like patterns of ogee- (double-curved) ended lozenges.