The question of how medieval carpenters set out their work is an under-investigated topic of research. Advanced craft knowledge is needed for a study of this kind and, in that regard, this article is written from a master craftsman’s point of view. Domestic medieval roofs have consistently common roof pitches of 48°, 52°, 55°1 and 58°, and roofs were being pitched long before the early scholars brought knowledge from the ancient world to England in the mid-twelfth century. Moreover, it is unlikely that master carpenters and masons had access to this knowledge until the early to mid-thirteenth century, and equally unlikely that the domestic carpenter had any knowledge of geometry until the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Instead, this article argues that medieval carpenters used a simple method of setting out using cord, which would obviate the need for measurement and geometry and whose common divisions correspond to the common pitches found in medieval buildings. This article is on a subject of ongoing debate in which there are a range of views, and it is anticipated that a response will be published in due course.

中文翻译：

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中世纪早期至十八世纪木匠在没有几何和数字测量的情况下放屋顶和建筑物的知识

中世纪木匠如何开展工作的问题是一个研究不足的课题。此类研究需要高级工艺知识，因此，本文是从工匠大师的角度撰写的。国内中世纪屋顶的屋顶坡度一直是 48°、52°、55°1 和 58°，而且在早期学者在 12 世纪中叶将古代世界的知识带到英国之前，屋顶已经被倾斜很久了。此外，直到 13 世纪早期和中期，木匠大师和泥瓦匠不太可能获得这些知识，同样，家庭木匠在 17 或 18 世纪之前也不太可能拥有任何几何知识。相反，本文认为中世纪的木匠使用了一种使用绳索进行放样的简单方法，这将消除对测量和几何的需要，并且其共同的划分对应于中世纪建筑中的共同间距。这篇文章是关于一个持续辩论的主题，其中有多种观点，预计将在适当的时候发表回应。