Structural design in the eighteenth century: James Essex and the roof of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter House

The design of novel structural forms can happen either by a process of trial and error supported by testing, or by adopting some conceptual model of structural behaviour. These conceptual models are often simple analogies rather than sophisticated abstractions. This paper provides a case study of one particular example; a method used in the design of an unusually large roof structure during the eighteenth century. The study is a contribution from historical materials to the ‘natural history’ of design.