HERRINGBONE, in masonry construction, the use of courses or rows in which the individual bricks or stones are set at an angle of approximately 45° to the horizontal and with alternate courses at right angles to each other. Herring-bone work is occa sionally found in late Roman brick construction, and was common throughout the Romanesque period (see BYZANTINE AND ROMAN ESQUE ARCHITECTURE) sometimes decoratively, as in much of the brick work of north Italy, sometimes structurally, with the appar ent idea that long, thin stones could be more efficiently used in this manner than if laid horizontally. In modern construction, the herring-bone is almost entirely restricted to decorative brick work and paving. A similar pattern is often used in hard wood floors.