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Glossary

Bull-nosed sill
Sill displaying a pronounced convex upper edge.
Bullseye window
Small oval window, set horizontally. Also called an oeil de boeuf.
Bush-hammered
Of concrete, textured with steel bushes or brushes after casting; also called brushed.
But-and-ben
(Scots, lit. outer and inner rooms): Two-room cottage.
Butt-joint
A joint in which the stones or bricks do not overlap.
Buttery
In a medieval house or college, a store room off the screens passage, especially for drink; compare pantry.
Butt purlins
Purlins (horizontal longitudinal timbers in a roof structure) tenoned into either side of the principals. Also called tenoned purlins.
Buttress
Vertical member projecting from a wall to stabilize it or to resist the lateral thrust of an arch, roof or vault. Angle buttress: set at 90 degrees at the angle of a building. Clasping buttress: one which encases the angle. Diagonal buttress: set diagonally to the angle. A flying buttress transmits the thrust to a heavy abutment by means of an arch or half-arch. A set-back buttress is placed slightly back from the angle.
Byzantine
London
A style which originated at Byzantium (Constantinople), the Eastern capital of the Roman Empire, in the 5th century, spreading around the Mediterranean and, with Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity, from Sicily to Russia in later centuries. It developed the round arches, vaults and domes of Roman architecture but eschewed formalized classical detail in favour of lavish decoration and ornament of emblematic and symbolic significance. Introduced to late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain as an alternative to Gothic, usually for church architecture; often called Neo-Byzantine.
Cable moulding
A moulding like twisted strands of a rope; also called rope moulding.