Gothic Roof Styles

Steeped Stone Roofs

• Most Gothic roofs, particularly those on churches, come to a high point and have sharply sloping sides. Pointed vaults and ribbed arches meant that buildings could support more weight and builders used this to raise great steeples reaching to the heavens.

Flat Stone Roofs

• Large flat roofs made of stone, such as those found at the top of towers, were also supported by ribbed arches. Churches used this design for the tops of bell towers and fortifications employed it for watchtowers or platforms from which archers could defend the building.

Wooden Roofs

• For buildings constructed out of wood, hammer-beam roof styles were the most common during this period. Hammer-beam roofs are supported with a series of struts and curved arches and braces. Dwellings often had roofs that used other methods of support and design. These included tie-beam roofs, which consisted only of two long beams and a tie-beam, and the trussed-rafter roof, which used rafters coupled with collars and braces that held up the roof. Finally, aisle roofs used a single center beam between two supporting arches and had multiple perpendicular struts from the center to the walls. All of these styles created pitched roofs of variable steepness.