Sper

(SPUR, SPAR), a name applied by old writers to pieces of timber of various kinds, such as quarters, rafters, wooden bars for securing doors, etc. The term is still used in some districts for rafters. Sper batten is not an unusual name with Middle-age authors for a rafter. They also frequently speak of sperring a door, meaning the securing it with a wooden bar, or fastening it with a bolt. Another sense of the word spur is for the. ornamented wooden brackets which support the sommerbeam by the side of doorways at York: this usage is believed to be quite local. SEE BRACKET; SEE HAUNCH.