Journal of Architectural Conservation
Volume 15, Issue 2, July 2009
Cantilever, Hanging or Pencheck Stone Stairs
Ian Hume
Paper Summary
Cantilever stone staircases are found all over the world in many of the historic buildings constructed over the last 400 years, but while they are generally very robust, their structural action is poorly understood and consequentially they are often treated incorrectly. This paper describes how they work, the reasons they survive and gives some pointers as to how they should be looked after.
 |
Figure 2 A modest but elegant cantilever staircase with winders.
|
Ian Hume DIC, DiplConsAA, CEng, MIStructE, IHBC
Ian Hume is a conservation accredited structural engineer who has been dealing with historic structures since 1975. He was Chief Structural Engineer at English Heritage for ten years and now concentrates on teaching structural engineering processes in the historic environment. He chairs the UK Conservation Accreditation Register for Engineers.
More information on the Journal of Architectural Conservation.
How to subscribe.