putlog

Interior putlog holes may be left open, particularly if not in a finished space.

The term putlock or the newer term putlog date from the 17th century.

The interior has various putlog holes three metres from ground level, and various internal dressed slots.

In addition to the putlog couplers (discussed above, there are also putlog tubes.

Spacing is the same on a putlog scaffold as on a general purpose scaffold, and ties are still required.

The barbican contains numerous putlog holes from its construction, although these would have been masked by exterior plasterwork in the medieval period.

The outside of the towers still have the putlog holes from their original construction, where timbers were inserted to create a spiralling ramp for the builders.

In some castles, construction of hoardings was facilitated by putlog holes that were left in the masonry of castle walls.

The putlog holes which held the scaffolding are evident in many places in the walls, which stand several metres high in places.

These include semi-circular door arches, window styles, corbelled towers and positioning of putlog holes, and are usually ascribed to the influence of the Savoy architect Master James.

At Conwy, for example, the walls were white-washed with a lime render, and the putlog holes in the walls may have been used to display painted shields called targes from the walls.

Putlogs may be sawn off flush with the wall if they cannot be removed but exterior putlog holes are typically filled in as the scaffold is removed to prevent water from entering the walls.

The inconsequential size and the spacing of the holes meant that they did not affect the solidity of the walls, and in well-preserved castles, like Beaumaris, the ancient putlog holes can be seen to this day.

Of the couplers previously mentioned, right-angle couplers join ledgers or transoms to standards, putlog or single couplers join board bearing transoms to ledgers - Non-board bearing transoms should be fixed using a right-angle coupler.