The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Glossary
A gable which descends below the apex of an arch, the curve of which it passes or joins at a tangent.
Arch decorated with sculpture placed along the curve of the arch (as opposed to a radiating arch).
Either a block capital or a volute capital, with a T- shaped projection in the centre of each face.
A cushion capital without a sharply defined shield.
The small cubes of glass, stone, marble or flint used principally in mosaic but occasionally in sculpture.
The traces of an axe, chisel, drill etc. preserved on the stone. Precious evidence of carving practice.
The roll moulding on the base of a column or pier.
A blue-black carboniferous limestone. When highly polished and waxed it has the appearance of black marble. It was quarried on the banks of the River Scheldt near Tournai and exported as raw material for sculpture but more frequently it was carved in the local workshops and exported as fonts, tombstones, columns etc.
Any arch used to support a vault, ceiling or roof, set at right angles to the space that it spans.
Also known as trilobed capital. A form of cushion capital in which the shield is trilobed, the bell usually following the same profile.
An ornament consisting of diagonals intersecting to form lozenges.
An arch with straight sides rising to a point.
The area of a wall, often arcaded, above the main arcade level and corresponding to the rafters of an aisle or gallery roof. Although it may contain a wall passage it is not technically a gallery if it has a low lean-to roof (See also: tribune gallery). Medieval writers did not however make these distinctions.
A rocky deposit that forms when lime-rich water issues at springs. Because it has not been subjected to the pressures associated with normal sedimentation, it is a light honeycomb of a stone, readily carved into building blocks but not used for sculpture. It was used at Moccas and Bredwardine in Herefordshire.
The simplest form of vault, consisting of a continuous vault of semicircular or pointed sections.
A small tower, surmounting or attached to a building, usually used as a staircase.
The segmental field filling the head of an arch, generally over a doorway. It usually rests on a lintel.