prof Christian Lassure
The Use of the Keystone Vault in Drystone Shelters in French Vernacular Architecture
Traditionally, drystone shelters have been associated with one particular type of roofing: the vault of corbelled and outward-inclining stones.
A less well-known roofing technique that drystone builders have resorted to is the keystone vault and its variants.
A small number of shelters using this technique have been found in France:
- the barrel-like vault under a two-sided roof of stone tiles;
- the cupola-shaped vault under a domical roof of stone tiles;
- side-by-side arches of stone voussoirs under a covering of stone rubble.
Mention must also be made of a system with hanging keystone halfway between the corbelled vault proper and the cupola-shaped vault.