Quoin
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Quoins_at_the_Templehouse_Walled_Garden%2C_Dunlop%2C_East_Ayrshire_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Quoins_at_the_Templehouse_Walled_Garden%2C_Dunlop%2C_East_Ayrshire_%28cropped%29.jpg)
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Quoins (/kɔɪn/ or /kwɔɪn/) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall.[1] Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble,[2] while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner.[3] According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, these imply strength, permanence, and expense, all reinforcing the onlooker's sense of a structure's presence.[4]
Stone quoins are used on stone or brick buildings. Brick quoins may appear on brick buildings, extending from the facing brickwork in such a way as to give the appearance of generally uniformly cut ashlar blocks of stone larger than the bricks. Where quoins are decorative and non-load-bearing a wider variety of materials is used, including timber, stucco, or other cement render.
Techniques
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/1993-1994-Giardino_Giusti_%28Verona%29-testo_e_photo_Paolo_Villa-nA2-tesi_Accademia_Belle_Arti_Bologna-portone_di_Palazzo_Giusti.jpg/220px-1993-1994-Giardino_Giusti_%28Verona%29-testo_e_photo_Paolo_Villa-nA2-tesi_Accademia_Belle_Arti_Bologna-portone_di_Palazzo_Giusti.jpg)
Ashlar blocks
[edit]In a traditional, often decorative use, large rectangular ashlar stone blocks or replicas are laid horizontally at the corners. This results in an alternate, quoining pattern.
Alternate cornerstones
[edit]Courses of large and small corner stones are used, alternating between stones of different thickness, with typically the larger cornerstones thinner than the smaller.[citation needed]
Alternate vertical
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/St_Benet%27s_Cambridge_stylesofarchitec00rick_0382_%28cropped%29.jpg/170px-St_Benet%27s_Cambridge_stylesofarchitec00rick_0382_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The long and short quoining method instead places long stone blocks with their lengths oriented vertically, between smaller ones that are laid flat. This load-bearing quoining is common in Anglo-Saxon buildings such as St Bene't's Church in Cambridge, England.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Rankine, William J. M. (1862). A Manual of Civil Engineering. Griffin, Bohn, and Co. p. 385.
- ^ Charles F.Mitchell. Building Construction. Part 1. First Stage or Elementary Course. Second Edition—Revised. Published by B.T. Batsford, 52 High Holborn. 1889. Page 48.
- ^ "Definitions for: Quoin". Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^
Encyclopaedia Perthensis. 576: John Brown. 1816.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ a b Rickman, Thomas (1848). An attempt to discriminate the styles of architecture in England : from the Conquest to the Reformation : with a sketch of the Grecian and Roman orders : notices of numerous British edifices :and some remarks on the architecture of a part of France (Fifth ed.). London: John Henry Parker. p. Appendix-xxii.
External links
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- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.