Hammerbeam roof

Illustration of a single hammer-beam truss. The collar-braces (c) join to the hammer posts on the bottom and collar beam on top. Chambers 1908

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.

  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.