| Facade (Facade, Facades) | | The face or main front of a building. Also called the frontage. | |
| Fellmonger (Fellmonger, Fellmongers, Fellmongering) | | A fellmonger is someone who removes hair from animal hides in preparation for tanning. The name comes from the Old English ‘fell’ meaning skins and ‘monger’ meaning dealer. | |
| Feoffee (Feoffee, Feoffees) | | A trustee or trustees who are in charge of a trust. They are responsible for managing the trust. Trusts are generally charities who give money or assistance to people or buildings. | |
| Flax (Flax) | | The fibres of the flax plant can be made into thread. This can then be woven into a type of fabric known as linen. | |
| Fleur-de-lys (Fleur-de-lys) | | A pattern that looks like a lily with 3 distinct petals. | |
| Florence Nightingale (Florence Nightingale) | | Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was known as 'the Lady with the Lamp'. She was a nurse during the Crimean War. She pioneered the concept of hygiene within hospitals. She also set up the first training school for nurses at St Thomas's hospital. | |
| Folly (Folly, Follies) | | A building, often found in 18th century landscape gardens. They tend to be quirky and have no practical purpose. They can take many forms - ruins, pretend castles, towers, hermits' cells or grottoes. | |
| Foreman (Foreman, Foremen) | | An experienced person who supervises other workmen. | |
| Forge (Forge, Forges, Forged) | | A place in which metal is worked by heating and hammering. It is also known as a smithy. | |
| Fortification (Fortification, Fortifications, Fortify, Fortified) | | A usually permanent defense designed to strengthen and protect a place. | |
| Foundry (Foundry, Foundries, Foundrymen) | | A foundry is a factory that produces metal objects from castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mould and then removing the mould material. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron. | |
| Fox-Talbot (Fox-Talbot) | | William Henry Fox-Talbot (1800-77) was a British physicist and a pioneer of photography. | |
| Franciscan (Franciscan, Franciscans) | | A religious group or person who follow the rules of St Francis of Assisi (c1181-1226). The main rule was a vow of poverty. | |
| Frescoe (Frescoe, Frescoes, Frescoed) | | A painting on plaster. Frescoes were common in medieval churches and buildings. They don’t last very long in the damp British climate. Added to this, the Reformation meant that many were painted over. Very few frescoes remain. | |
| Friar (Friar, Friars, Friary) | | A member of one of the mendicant (begging) Christian religious orders. They are mainly Augustinian, Carmelite, Dominican or Franciscan friars. Unlike monks they were not confined to a single monastery or abbey. | |
| Fulling (Fulling, fuller, fullers) | | The process which followed weaving in woollen cloth manufacturing. During the fulling operation the woollen cloth was washed, shrunk, and felted (matted together by means of heat, moisture, friction, and pressure). | |