The Hammer-beam Roof of Westminster Hall and the Structural Rationale of Hugh Herland

This paper examines the carpentry of the late medieval roof of Westminster Hall. The structure, a hammer-beam roof, is analysed from the perspective of the king's carpenter Hugh Herland. This analysis is based on drawings made in 1913 to facilitate the repair of the roof, and on the author's archaeological reconstruction of the carpentry based on those drawings. Herland's experience at Winchester in the early 1390s, immediately before beginning work at Westminster, is also considered. The paper also places the Westminster roof in the context of earlier hammer-beam roofs, particularly Pilgrims' Hall, Winchester. It concludes that the hammer-beam carpentry was crucial to the roof's structure, and that Herland intended the hall's ‘great arched ribs' primarily as ornamental components.