Hammerbeam roof

A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter".^[1] They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams projecting from the wall on which the rafters land, essentially a tie beam which has the middle cut out. These short beams are called hammer-beams^[2] and give this truss its name. A hammerbeam roof can have a single, double or false hammerbeam truss.

^ Bismanis, Maija R. The medieval English domestic timber roof: a handbook of types. New York u.a.: Lang, 1987. 163.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.

[1] Bismanis, Maija R. The medieval English domestic timber roof: a handbook of types. New York u.a.: Lang, 1987. 163.

[2] Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.

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