ABSTRACT
There is a popular belief in Britain that the great iron roofs of the 19th century were the children of the 'Crystal Palace'. A less common, and more tenable, variant on this belief is that they were developed to suit the functional needs of the railways and that other uses followed. A parallel beliefor perhaps more strictly a common impression-is that timber as a structural material was, and is, only suitable for small-scale, almost domestic, construction with spans seldom exceeding 10m and generally much less.
