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Cames The grooved strips of lead which form the structure of a stained or leaded glass window Related Words  Lead; Leaded glass; Stained glass Cap house A structure covering the top of a spiral staircase giving access to the top of a tower or wallhead   Capital, cap The top section of a column, in classical architecture. immediately under the architrave. In Romanesque and Gothic architecture the capital (often abbreviated to 'cap') is usually the point from which the arch begins to curve ('springs').      Related Words  Architrave; Classical; Column Capping A covering, usually of lead, applied to the top of a wall or other feature, to prevent water penetration. Related Words  Lead Casement window A window set in a frame which is hinged at one side, and opens sideways, or from the top or bottom as a hopper. Related Words  Hopper (window) Cast iron work Cast iron objects are made by melting iron and pouring it into moulds. The material is often used to make gutters, hoppers and downpipes. Sometimes it is used to make window frames, and internal supports, such as columns and beams. It is also used to make ornamental items, such as gates, railings, roof ridges, finials and weather-vanes. It can generally be distinguished from wrought-iron by being less delicately proportioned. Related Words  Down pipe; Finial; Gutter ; Hopper (window); Ridge, ridging; Wrought iron Cathedral glass Leaded glass made with small regularly-shaped rectangular or diamond-shaped panes. The panes are usually translucent, and of a variety of pale colours   Cavity wall Wall, usually of brick or blockwork, built with an inner and outer skin, having a space between the skins, known as the cavity. The two faces are linked by wall-ties. In modern construction the cavity may be fully or partly filled with insulation  Related Words  Blockwork; Brick; Wall ties Cement, cementitious The term cement usually refers to Portland Cement, a substance made by roasting limestone and clay, and grinding the resulting mass into a powder. When mixed with water it sets to form a hard mass. When mixed with sand it can be used as a mortar, and with aggregate it forms concrete, or can be spread over a wall-face as a render. Cement mortars and renders are suitable for brickwork, but can damage masonry, especially if made of soft stone. Related Words  Concrete; Mortar; Portland cement; Render Chamfer The cutting off of the sharp edge of an arris at an angle, usually of 45 degrees. Serves to prevent damage to the edge, and in windows to increase the amount of light transmitted through them. Related Words  Arris Chancel The part of a church in which the altar or communion table is set. It should, in a Church of Scotland, also accommodate the font, and usually the pulpit. It is sometimes a separate chamber at the east end of the building, but is commonly simply an area at the east end of a rectangular worship space. Related Words  East end (liturgical) (and north, south and west) Chip carving A way of decorating masonry by cutting holes and grooves into ashlar, to form geometric patterns. Related Words  Ashlar; Masonry Choir This term has two meanings.  1. A body of singers, used to lead worship and  2. A separate chamber at the east end of a church, housing the altar or Communion table, and sometimes seats for a choir (1). The choir (2) is usually narrower and lower than the main body (nave) of the church, and may be referred to as the chancel. Related Words  Chancel; East end (liturgical) (and north, south and west); Nave Cill (sill) The bottom member of a window opening. It is usually made of stone or concrete, often with a timber cill on top. It generally projects beyond the face of the surrounding wall, and sheds water away from it.    Classical Used of architecture inspired by Greek or Roman design, with the use of columns or pilasters. Classical churches are usually symmetrical. There are three basic detailed designs of columns, and of the other principal features of classical buildings, referred to as orders. These are the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders. Related Words  Column; Pilaster Clerestorey The row of windows in a nave or choir, set above the aisle roof. Also used to refer to any high-level windows above a roof Related Words  Aisle; Choir; Nave Coarse stuff A mixture of slaked lime and coarse sand, allowed to mature for several weeks, and then used as a constituent of lime mortar Related Words  Lime mortar, render, limewashing Colonnade A row of columns, other than those forming a portico Related Words  Column; Portico Column One of the structural elements of a classical building, a tall, circular-section object supporting the upper part of the building.  Related Words  Classical Concrete A mixture of Portland cement, sand, gravel and water. Lime may be used in place of the cement, in which case the mixture is known as lime concrete. If rods of steel are embedded in the concrete it is reinforced concrete. It these are put under tension while the concrete is setting, it is pre-stressed concrete. Reinforced concrete made in a mould to be used off-site is pre-cast concrete. Non-reinforced concrete is known as mass concrete. The timber or metal moulds used in casting concrete on site are known as shuttering.  Related Words  Aggregate; Cement, cementitious Copes, coping In building terms, a cope is the covering for an exposed wallhead. Copes generally overhang the wall they cap, to shed water. Some are roughly triangular in cross-section, others almost flat. They are usually made of stone or concrete Related Words  Wallhead Copper Copper in sheet form can be used as a durable roof covering, and occasionally as a wall-cladding. Brownish when installed, it turns green. Copper is also the preferred material for lightning conductors.  Related Words  Lightning conductor Corbel, corbel table, corbelling A corbel is a stone which projects from a wall-face, to support a floor or roof, or some other structure. A row of corbels, with spaces in between, at a wallhead, is known as a corbel table. A continuous row of such projecting stones is known as corbelling.   Corrugated iron Sheet-iron or steel coated with zinc (galvanised), and rolled into a continuous wave form. This stiffens the sheet in one dimension. Corrugated iron was formerly extensively used for the walls and roofs of temporary buildings (see tabernacles). Sheets curved in the direction of the corrugations are remarkably strong, and were used in building Nissen huts, as in the Italian Chapel in Orkney. Sheet steel with sharp-edged corrugations is termed 'profiled' steel. Related Words  Steel; Tabernacle (tin); Zinc Course, coursed A course is a row of adjacent stones or bricks, of the same height. Coursed stonework has a series of such rows, with the vertical joints staggered   Crenellation The treatment of a parapet wallhead as in a mediaeval castle, with tall and short sections alternating. Common in early Gothic Revival churches.  Related Words  Gothic (revival); Parapet; Wallhead Cresting The name given to ornamental cast-iron roof ridging. Related Words  Ridge, ridging Crockets Stylised leaves carved along the edges of pinnacles, or round doorways, in late Gothic and Gothic Revival buildings Related Words  Gothic (revival); Pinnacle Crossing In a cruciform church, the area where the four arms of the cross meet. In many cruciform churches there is a tower over the crossing Related Words  Cruciform Crown steeple A form of steeple in which the masonry of the corners of a tower is carried up in a curve to meet above the centre of the tower.   Crowsteps The fashioning of the skews of a gable as a series of steps, a traditional Scots vernacular feature   Cruciform Used to describe a building on a cross plan. Most cruciform churches are on a Latin cross plan, in which one arm of the cross is significantly longer than the other three. A cross with equal arms is known as a Greek cross.   Cupola A domed top stage of a tower, often used as a belfry. Also used to refer to a large glazed rooflight over a hall or stairway. Related Words  Bellcote, belfry