Building Parapets
The word comes ultimately from the Italian parapetto (parare = to cover/defend and petto =breast). The German term Brustwehr has the same significance.
Parapets may be plain embattled, perforated or panelled, which are not mutually exclusive terms.
- Plain parapets are upward extensions of the wall, sometimes with a coping at the top and corbel below.
- Embattled parapets may be panelled, but are pierced, if not purely as stylistic device, for the discharge of defensive projectiles.
- Perforated parapets are pierced in various designs such as circles, trefoils, quatrefoils.
- Panelled parapets are ornamented by a series of panels, either oblong or square, and more or less enriched, but not perforated. These are common in the Decorated and Perpendicular periods.
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