You may well have been stumped by some of the following words and phrases when researching old properties or reading up on period architecture. If you come across a word or phrase that is not in our glossary please contact Period PROFILE and we will add it to the list.

Acre A measurement of land equal to 4840 square yards.

Advowson The right of presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice.

Affidavit A written statement made on oath

Appurtenances Rights and conditions attached to the holding of land.

Architrave The surround of a door or window opening.

Baluster The vertical member supporting the handrail of a staircase.

Basket grate A free standing iron box placed within an open fireplace. Sometimes called a dog grate. Generally eighteenth century in date.

Beastgate The right to pasture one animal on the manorial common.

Bolection A raised moulding covering the junction of two surfaces. Seen on panelling, doors and fireplaces. Generally late seventeenth century in date.

Bovate One eighth of a carucate, also called an oxgang. Usually about 21 acres.

Bressumer A beam supporting an opening, for example an inglenook fireplace.

Brick Tax A tax first levied in 1784 to raise money for the American Wars. It was a set fee per 1000 bricks, which meant that bricks became larger after this date. Abolished in 1850.

Burgage A narrow plot of land within a township running from the street frontage back to a rear lane. Usually a building plot

Carucate A measurement of land equal to the amount a team of eight oxen could plough in one year. Usually between 160 and 180 acres.

Casement A hinged window usually opening outwards.

Census A detailed listing of the demographic make up of the country. A census has been taken every year since 1801(with the exception of 1941) From 1841 onwards they list the names, ages and occupations of the inhabitants. This information is only available to the public after a hundred years have elapsed.

Close A small, enclosed field.

Copyhold A form of tenure for land held from the lord of the manor in return for service or payment. The tenure could only be transferred by surrender to the lord. Each admission was recorded on the Court Rolls and a copy given to the tenant as a form of title deed. Finally abolished in 1926.

Cornice The decorative band separating the top of a wall from the ceiling.

Dado The area of a wall immediately above the skirting, often separated from the upper wall by a dado rail.

Demense Those parts of the manor which the lord retained for himself.

Enclosure The process of bringing common land within the jurisdiction of a township. Effected by an Act of Parliament. Most enclosure was carried out between 1750 and 1850.

Fealty An oral oath of allegiance to a lord, often part of a copyhold agreement.

Fire back A cast iron plate set against the back of a hearth to prevent heat damage.

Fire dogs Iron bars used to support the large logs burnt in inglenook fireplaces.

Fire hood A lath and plaster canopy over a hearth to funnel smoke out through the roof. Found in areas where there were no suitable materials for constructing a flue.

Freehold Land held on a non-servile tenure either for life or in fee simple.

Frieze The uppermost part of a wall. Often separated from the wall below by a frieze or picture rail.

Garth A small, enclosed area such as a yard or garden.

Glebe Lands held by the clergy.

Hair Powder Tax An act of 1795 which required all persons using this to obtain a permit.

Hearth tax A seventeenth century tax levied on all households. Introduced in 1662, it proved so unpopular that it was abolished in 1689.

Hob grate A cast iron grate with small side shelves or "hobs". Usually late eighteenth or early nineteenth century in date.

Incumbent The rector of the parish.

Indenture A deed executed between two or more parties, written on parchment with "indents" along the edges.

Jamb The vertical edge of a door or window.

Label moulding A projecting moulding above a door or widow designed to deflect rainwater away from the opening.

Lintel The top of a door or window supporting the wall above

Messuage A parcel of land usually containing a dwelling house and garden.

Militia list An eighteenth century register of all able bodied men available for military service.

Oxgang See bovate.

Pantile A clay tile with a distinctive S-shaped profile. First imported from the Low Countries and manufactured in Britain from the early eighteenth century.

Perch A measurement of land amounting to 30.25 square yards and one fortieth of a rood.

Piano Nobile In a classical house the first and principal floor containing the main suite of rooms.

Quoin A block of stone forming the external corner of two adjacent walls.

Recusant A perpetual absentee from the parish services. Punishable by fine.

Register grate An enclosed cast iron grate with a hinged plate allowing access to the flue. Usually Victorian or Edwardian in date.

Reveal The vertical inner face of a door or window opening. See splay.

Rood A measurement of land amounting to 1210 square yards and equal to a quarter of an acre.

Sash A timber window that slides either vertically or horizontally within a box frame.

Sill The horizontal member that supports a window frame and disperses rainwater away from the opening.

Soffit The underside of a window or door opening.

Spandrel The triangular area formed between an arch and the rectangle of mouldings in which it is placed.

Splay The sloping inner face of a window opening. Sometimes also seen on doors. See reveal.

Stint A piece of land on which a limited number of cattle were allowed to graze.

Tenement A parcel of land usually including a dwelling house. Term later used for the house itself.

Tithes The old feudal right of the clergy to claim one tenth of all produce and animals within the parish. Later changed to payment of monies and finally commuted from 1836.

Trompe l'oeil  French for "trick of the eye". A paint technique used to create a false impression of perspective on a flat wall or ceiling. First used by the Romans, it reached its height of popularity during the Baroque period. 

Turnpike A toll road built by Act of Parliament and controlled by gates or turnpikes.

Water tabling Stone slabs covering the junction of roofing material and wall.

Window Tax This tax replaced the Hearth Tax in 1696. It was levied on occupants rather than owners and was abolished in 1851.