A Stonemason's Dictionary
A pocket dictionary of masonry terms, names and expressions

Hall: The main room in a medieval house.

Hammer Beam: Bracket forming part of the principal truss of an open timber framed roof.

Hand Hawk: A flat piece of board with a vertical handle attached to the centre of its underside. Used to hold mortar when pointing.

Hard Bar: A vein of quartz, or hard material, running through a stone, not popular with the stonemason who will inevitably discover that it coincides with a tricky part of the detail he is carving!

Haunch: Part of an arch between it's pillar and highest point

Hawk’s Beak: A type of moulding with a cross section like a hawk’s beak in profile, gothic.

Herringbone: A method of placing bricks or stone, each course set at 45 degrees to the vertical, alternate courses leaning left and right.

Hip: The external angle created by the intersection of two roofs.

Hollington: Staffordshire loose grained sandstone, red or whitish grey in colour.

Hood Moulding: The outermost part of an arch, projecting proud of the wall to throw rainwater clear of the building.

Hoppy: Small wooden platform for standing on when working on very large stones at the banker.

Hydrated Lime: Lime produced by adding just enough water to quick lime as to make it slake, but leave it crumbly in texture.

Hydraulic Lime: Lime which will set (through the absorption of carbon) without the addition of potsolamic material.