ABSTRACT
This chapter examines one particular example; a method used in the design of an unusually large roof structure during the Eighteenth Century, and to consider, inter alia, its efficacy as a design guide. During the 1760's James Essex re-roofed the Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral. The Lincoln roof structure remains and a collection of drawings and correspondence relating to its construction also survives. Essex had rebuilt the octagon and lantern at Ely cathedral just prior to beginning work at Lincoln and this earlier structure, although quite different from that of a chapter house roof, is of a similar scale and must have provided valuable experience. A drawing by Robert Adam for Osterley House showed a roof incorporating a queen post truss 'carried by' part king post trusses at each end; a combination that would not have worked if it had been built.
