Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Question from Tracey - Bargeboards

This is a question concerning architecture.

>From a description of Ightham Mote-

"...oak bargeboards in the cobbled courtyard are carved with twining branches carrying the Tudor rose of England, the fleur-de-lis of France, and the pomegranate of Granada, the badge of Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. This armorial decoration was overseen by Ightham's owner, Richard Clement, in 1521."

What are bargeboards?

3 comments:

Lara said...

I was surprised to find this was actually in my computer's dictionary program! And now I've learned a new term. :)

Here's the definition: board, typically ornamental, fixed to the gable end of a roof to hide the ends of the roof timbers.

And for examples, just do a search on the term at images.google.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Lara! I did think about doing a 'google', but asking outright is more fun.

Most of the time a question will spring other questions, comments, or observations and sometimes great conversations get going.

I will admit to having been befuddled with this term. My husband designs houses, and he wasn't familiar with this at all.

Lara said...

Hey, I learned something by seeing the question, so I'm sure others will too! The only types of easily Googled questions I won't post are some really basic things like "what day did Elizabeth I die?" or similar things (and yes, I really get some questions like that...)
With less obvious things, I figure if one person asks about it, others might come looking for it too!