Brick walls, bonded together using mortar, come in a wide range of different styles and formats.
An all stretcher wall is very common and is made up of entirely stretcher face bricks facing outwards. Occasionally headers may be seen where adjoining walls enter at right angles and the headers bond the walls together.
Usually stretcher walls are [...]
Four columns bear load from vaulting above. There are two semi-circular arch across the ceiling and with gothic, pointed arches on four faces it forms a line between the arch peaks and vaulting that is usually filled with rubble.
Early Egyptians and Greeks had only stone lintels, which had a limited tensile strength so distances spanned could only be relatively small. The Romans developed the semi-circular arch. Load is transferred down through constant columns to ground. As the arch is loaded, the stone will tighten up and bear greater load.
