Batter (walls)

Batter in construction is a receding slope of a wall, structure, or earthwork. A wall sloping in the opposite direction is said to overhang. The term is used with buildings and non-building structures to identify when a wall is intentionally built with an inward slope. A battered corner is an architectural feature using batters. A batter is sometimes used in foundations, retaining walls, dry stone walls, dams, lighthouses, and fortifications.

The batter angle is typically described as a ratio of the offset and height or a degree angle.

Gallery

• Octagonal pavilion and hypostyle hall.jpg

  The walls of this octagonal, stone pavilion in India are battered.

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  A batter frame is used to guide the construction of a battered stone wall.

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  Batter describes the intentional inclination of these pilings.

• Ruins of St Edmund's Chapel - Hunstanton - St Edmund's Point.jpg

  Battered buttresses reinforce this wall.

• Philae temple, front view.jpg

  Ancient Egyptian pylons were often battered.