subject being
somewhat vague.

There are, in fact, several different interpretations as to its
significance. One meaning of "half-timber" is trunks of wood split in
half; but this is used mainly in connection with shipbuilding. One
writer states that half-timber work is so called "because the timbers
which show on the face are about the same width as the spaces between."
Gwilt describes a half-timber building as "a structure formed of
studding, with sills, lintels, struts, and braces, sometimes filled in
with brick-work, and plastered over on both sides." Parker defines a
half-timber house as having "foundations and the ground floor only of
stone, the upper part being of wood." With these different definitions
there is no wonder that popular ideas as to what a half-timber house
actually is are rather hazy.

The point of most importance, however, is not the mere verbal
explanation adopted in technical handbooks, but the characteristics of
this kind of structure, differentiating it from those built up from the
foundations of one species of material, such as stone, or brick, or
what-not.

The following may be regarded as the essential features of half-timber
houses or timber-framed houses (for the terms are practically
synonymous):

(1) The foundations and the lower parts of the walls, sometimes up to
the sills of the ground-floor windows, are of stone or brickwork. Above
this the house is a timber structure as far as its main outline and its
sustaining parts are concerned, whatever may be the character of the
material with which the intervening spaces are filled.

(2) In old buildings of this kind each range or floor was made to
project somewhat beyond that below it, producing what are technically
termed over-sailing storeys. The advantages of this kind of construction
were manifold. It gave to rooms on the upper floor or floors greater
dimensions than those on the ground floor. It also imparted structural
balance, and afforded a convenient opportunity of strengthening the
whole structure by means of external brackets. Moreover, each
overhanging or over-sailing storey tended to shelter from the weather
the storey below it. The principle of over-sailing storeys was entirely
due to the use of timber in house construction.

(3) Perhaps the chief distinguishing mark of half-timber construction is
that the bases of the walls are always constructed of materials which
are not damaged by damp in the ground; whilst the upp