Draft:Crow-stepped gable

A crow-stepped gable or sparrow steps (known as pignon à redents o redans in French) is a projecting gable whose slopes are cut into redents or steps.

In some regions of France, it's a utilitarian element in the architecture of thatched rural houses, where flat stones cover the load-bearing walls. In other regions, such as northern France (notably in the Soissonnais region), or Scotland, it is a purely decorative element in ashlar. Another version of the stepped gable with a purely decorative role is found in so-called noble or urban architecture, mainly in northern and central Europe, such as Germany, Flanders and the Netherlands.

Rural architecture
In the rural architecture of various regions of France, the crenellated gables still visible on dwellings and barns are generally linked to the former existence of thatch roofing on these buildings, replaced during the 19th century by slate or flat tile roofing. .

Usefulness
The main advantages of the vertical projection of the gable slopes were to prevent the thatched roof from being “unplucked” in high winds, to facilitate access to the roof ridge and to act as a firebreak.

In rural architecture, redents are generally covered with flat stones to protect them from the rain, prevent water infiltration into the load-bearing wall, and enable the roofer or road worker to place his tools. These stones often (but not always) slope downwards to allow rainwater to drain away.

In the Campan valley (Hautes-Pyrénées), thatched roofs with overhanging gables can be found on temporary barns transformed into permanent farmhouses in the 19th century by family cadets, either by adding a single room (caouhadé or chauffoir) against a gable, or by creating a living space in the barn itself.

Rhône-Alpes
In the Rhône-Alpes region, they are typical of the architecture of eastern Nord-Isère (Morestel and Crémieu cantons) and neighboring southern Bugey (villages of Izieu, Prémeyzel, Lhuis, Brégnier-Cordon, Arbignieu, etc.). They are also widespread in the traditional habitat of the northern Vercors (Quatre Montagnes).

Central Pyrenees
In the central Pyrenees, from Bigorre to Couserans, gabled roofs are a common feature of barn and sheepfold architecture.

Jura department
In the villages of the Jura and Franche-Comté vineyards, some traditional Jura houses are built with gabled roofs.

Soissonnais
Stepped gables, also known as sparrow-stepped gables, can be found in villages along the Aisne valley, mainly in the Soissonnais region, where they are particularly numerous, if not widespread, and have characterized local rural architecture since the Middle Ages. They can be found on all types of buildings, mainly rural houses, but also manor houses, barns, town houses and church steeples. The term “crenellations” was formerly used to describe these steps. These are small steps, often consisting of a single ashlar course, not covered with flat stone. They have no credible utilitarian role. Their use is purely decorative or identity-related. Such gables are less common in other parts of northern France. Although Flanders is not far away, the gables of the Soissonnais are very different from those of Flanders in shape and structure, and the long history of this tradition in France makes it unlikely that the two are related.

The gables at Château de Pierrefonds, on the other hand, were designed by Viollet-le-Duc in the neo-Gothic style of the 19th century, and are a cross between Soissonnais and Flanders.

Urban architecture
There's also a more monumental, urban version of cusped gables, found mainly in northern Europe, whose function is exclusively decorative or symbolic.

Northern Europe
In Belgian and French Flanders, stepped gables became widespread from the Middle Ages onwards. They are probably the result of adapting the crenellations of fortified walls to sloping gables. A symbol of seigneurial housing, they were taken up by the powerful bourgeoisie of free market towns, to demonstrate the power they had acquired. The redents then quickly became widespread and a simple decorative motif, adorning even modest buildings. Redents are also sometimes fitted with merlons.

This type of gable, also known as “stepped gable” or “stepped gable”, is characteristic of many parts of Northern Europe. They can be found, with various local variations, in Flanders (in the broadest sense) and the Netherlands, but also throughout northern Germany, Poland, the Baltic states and Scandinavia, particularly in the former German Hanseatic towns, for which this type of gable is a striking architectural symbol, and where they spread at the same time as the backsteingotik (“brick Gothic”) style. They have also spread to more southerly Germanic regions, such as Bavaria, Alsace and Switzerland.

In Flanders and the Netherlands, their style is somewhat different (the steps are smaller and tend to be more numerous on each pitch, compared to the often large steps of northern Germany). They were a characteristic feature of urban construction where, by virtue of taxes on the width of houses, people came to build high and privilege this aspect of the facade. Horizontal divisions corresponding to storey heights often tended to be reduced in height, creating an optical effect of “false perspective” that accentuated the effect of height. From the Renaissance onwards, curves and scrolls began to appear, gradually eliminating the “stepped” appearance, although many were still preserved

From the early 19th century to the present day, neo-regionalist architecture has revived the use of crenellated gables in both Belgian and French Flanders: Tournai's Grand-Place, the reconstruction of Ypres and Bailleul after the First World War, buildings in Lille, and so on.