Centring, centre, centering"Centering 2, Centring 2" def. 1. Whitney, William Dwight, and Benjamin E. Smith. ''The Century dictionary and cyclopedia''. vol. 2. New York: Century Co., 1901. p. 885., or center is a type of falsework: the temporary structure upon which the stones of an

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

or vault are laid during construction. Until the keystone is inserted an arch has no strength and needs the centring to keep the voussoirs in their correct relative positions. A simple centring without a truss is called a common centring. A cross piece connecting centring frames is called a lag or bolst.Ching, Frank (1995). ''A visual dictionary of architecture''. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 3. . Centring is normally made of

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

timbers, a relatively straightforward structure in a simple arch or vault; but with more complex shapes involving double curvature, such as a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

or the bottle-shaped flue in a Norman-period kitchen,

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

bound by a weak lime mortar would be used. Shaping could be done by eye, perhaps with the help of a template, then

stones In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s laid against it. On larger works like a 19th-century

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

this was impractical. The structure would be built round a post acting as a datum, and each course of stonework would be set at a distance from the datum. When the centring is removed (as in "striking the centring"), pointing and other finishing continues.

Gallery

File:Small-arch-center.png, A simple arch centre suitable for single skin brickwork. File:Segmental-arch-center.png, A centre for a flat segmental arch. File:Arch-centering.png, The centring for a semicircular arch. File:Blackfriars02.jpg, Centring of trusses, not common centring Image:CatenaryKilnConstruction06025.JPG, Catenary arch

under construction over centring

References

Construction Arches and vaults {{Architecturalelement-stub