Perpent-stone

Perpent-Stone

(Fr. Perpeigne), an architectural term, designates a large stone reaching through a wall so as to appear on both sides of it; the same as what is now usually called a bonder, bond-stone, or through, except that these are often used in rough-walling, while the term perpent-stone appears to have been applied to squared stones, or ashlar; bonders also do not always reach through a wail. The term is still used in some districts; in Gloucestershire, ashlar thick enough to reach entirely through a wall, and show a fair face on both sides, is called Parping ashlar. This name may perhaps also have been sometimes given to a corbel. The term Perpent-wall would signify a wall built of perpent ashlar. Also a pier, buttress, or other support projecting from a wall to sustain a beam, roof, etc. In Lincoln Cathedral the dwarf walls separating the chapels in the transepts are also called perpeyn-walls, although actually they do not sustain a roof.