Carved supporting beam - The Old Wool Hall, Lavenham - geograph

Dragon beam is a horizontal, diagonal

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

in the corner(s) of some traditional

timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

buildings. The term is commonly used in both

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

framing and jettying. Older publications may use the synonyms dragging beam, dragging piece, dragging tie, dragon piece or dragon tie. Inconsistencies in modern usage are discussed below. In French it is called a coyer or enrayure.

Etymology

The etymology of dragon is unclear. The term may be descended from German träger (a carrier), Danish dragere (bearing beam, joist, girder) or Dutch draagbalk (beam). The origin has also been proposed as a corruption of diagonal or diagon.

Hip roofs

The dragon beam lies parallel to and below a hip rafter and carries the rafter. The dragon beam is carried by the wall on the outer end and by a horizontal piece between the two walls on the inside end. There are conflicting usages for this term in the U.K. and U.S.A. (see below). The most common usage seems to be combination dragon beam/cross tie. * A dragon beam lands on a dragon tie. (U.K.) * A dragon tie lands on a cross-tie. (U.K.) * A dragon beam lands on a dragon tie. (U.S.A.) * "Dragon strut, dragon piece, dragon tie, dragon beam", (French: coyer) lands on a "dragon cross tie" (French: gousset). (U.S.A.) * A dragon-piece lands on an angle-tie (U.K.)

Jetties

In buildings with

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

on adjacent walls the dragon beam is a horizontal, diagonal beam projecting from a corner which supports the jetties. Sometimes the post below the dragon beam is called a dragon post.Harris, Richard. Discovering timber-framed buildings. 2d ed. Aylesbury: Shire Publications, 1979. 56.

References

{{reflist Timber framing Medieval architecture Structural system