| AISLE: |
The side wings behind the rows of columns (arcade) supporting the main walls of the church. |
| ALTAR: |
A flat topped table or block on which a sacrifice is made. It was the focal point of a medieval church as the sacrificial element of the mass was regarded as the most important. It could also hold relics. |
| AMBULATORY: |
A passage running around the outside of a Saxon crypt (also used for the same role around the edge of a chancel in a large church or cathedral). |
| ANGLICAN: |
Of the Church of England. |
| APSE: |
A semi-circular or polygonal projection from the end of the chancel. |
| ARCADE: |
A row of columns. |
| ASHLAR: |
Smooth, squared masonry with fine joints. |
| AUMBRY: |
A cupboard recessed into the wall (usually missing its wooden door today). |
| BALUSTER: |
A turned post supporting a horizontal rail (in a row they form a balustrade). |
| BEAKHEADS: |
Ornamental carvings of the heads of birds and beasts with painted beaks, which can be found around arches on Norman churches. |
| BELFRY: |
The part of the tower in which the bells are held. Usually identified on the outside by louvred belfry openings. |
| BONDING: |
The way bricks are laid in a wall with the different patterns on the outer surface formed by headers (short ends) and stretchers (long sides). |
| BUTTRESS: |
A projecting stack of masonry set at right angles to a wall in order to support it. |
| CAPITAL: |
The head or top of a column, often decorated. |
| CHANCEL: |
The part of the church containing the altar (usually the eastern end). In larger churches the chancel is subdivided into a choir and presbytery, sometimes with a passage running around the outside of these. |
| CHANTRY: |
An altar or chapel where mass was chanted for its donor. |
| CHARNEL HOUSE OR PIT: |
A site where bones were deposited from graves when they were cleared to make room for a new burial. |
| CLERESTORY: |
The upper section of the wall in a nave which is usually fitted with windows. |
| COMMUNION TABLE: |
In Anglican churches the emphasis of the service was upon the community meal and thus the altar was renamed or replaced by a communion table. |
| CORBEL: |
A stone bracket set into a wall, often used to support roof trusses. |
| CROSSING: |
The section of a church directly below a central tower. |
| CRYPT: |
A chamber below the floor of a church for holding a grave or relic. |
| DORMER: |
An upright window set into the angle of a roof. |
| ENCAUSTIC: |
Tiles with different colours inlaid into patterns which are burnt in. |
| FAÇADE: |
The main vertical face of a building. |
| FONT: |
A basin containing holy water used for baptism. |
| GABLE: |
The pointed upper section of a wall at the end of a pitched roof. |
| GROIN: |
The edge where two vaults meet. |
| HAMMER-BEAM: |
A type of roof truss using a system of hammer posts, beams and brackets without any horizontal timber running across the full width of the church. |
| HERRINGBONE: |
Stone or brickwork laid in alternating diagonal layers (a zig-zag, in effect). |
| IMPOST: |
A moulded piece of brick or masonry from which an arch springs. |
| JAMBS: |
The sides of an opening for a door or window. |
| KEYSTONE: |
The top, central stone in a arch. |
| LADY CHAPEL: |
A chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. |
| LANCET: |
A tall narrow window with a pointed arch which was popular in the 13th century (often set in threes or fives). |
| LECTERN: |
A small angled desk upon an upright post used to hold books (usually gilt metal in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings). |
| LIERNE: |
A short rib connecting the joints of the principal ribs on a stone-vaulted ceiling. |
| LINTEL: |
A horizontal supporting beam set above a door or window. |
| LOUVRE: |
Slanted slats, in the case of a church used across the belfry openings. |
| MASS: |
The common name for the Eucharist, the central act of Christian worship. |
| MINSTER: |
The name for a monastic church which despatched priests over a set area in the Anglo-Saxon period before parishes were formed. The name was retained by some up to the present day even though their role has changed. |
| MISERICORD: |
A decorated projection on the underside of flip-down seats on which the person standing in front could rest during long services (from Latin misericordia meaning mercy). |
| MOULDING: |
A decorative strip of stone, brick or plaster. |
| MULLION: |
A vertical bar in a window. |
| NAVE: |
The main body of the church where the congregation stand or sit (usually the larger western portion). |
| OGEE: |
A curved line with a concave lower section and convex upper (a reversed ‘S’ shape) which form a distinctive arch popular in the 14th and 15th centuries. |
| PARAPET: |
The top section of wall above the sloping end of a roof. |
| PEDIMENT: |
A low pitched triangular feature above the entrance on a Classical building. |
| PILASTER: |
A flat column fixed to a wall. |
| PINNACLE: |
A small pointed turret used as decoration or to add weight on top of a tower, wall or buttress. |
| PISCINA: |
A stone basin for washing communion vessels. |
| PITCH: |
The angle at which a roof slopes. A plain sloping roof of two sides is called a pitched roof. |
| PLINTH: |
A projecting base around a building. |
| PORTICO: |
A structure forming a porch over a doorway, usually with a flat roof supported on columns and used on Classical churches especially in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. |
| PRESBYTERY: |
The part of the church where the high altar stood (usually only referred to as such in larger churches with a choir). |
| PULPIT: |
A raised structure from which a sermon is preached. |
| REFORMATION, THE: |
The reforming of the church in the early 16th century but which is used here for the foundation of the Church of England and the break with the Papacy by Henry VIII in 1531. |
| RENDER: |
A protective covering for a wall. |
| REREDOS: |
A stone screen on the east wall behind the altar. |
| RESTORATION, THE: |
The return of the monarchy to the throne in 1660. |
| ROOD: |
The cross or crucifix which was originally mounted on top of the screen between the nave and chancel. |
| SACRISTY: |
A room used for storing sacred vessels (usually associated with medieval churches (a vestry is used for this in the Church of England). |
| SCREEN: |
A decorated wooden or stone partition between two parts of a building (usually dividing the nave from the chancel in a church). |
| SEDILIA: |
Seats for the senior members of the clergy, usually a set of three recessed into the south wall next to the altar. |
| SQUINT: |
A small opening in a wall to give someone in another part of the church a clear view of the altar. |
| STALLS: |
Rows of seats or benches, sometimes with elaborate carved canopies at the western end of the chancel (the choir) and used by senior members of the clergy (used by choirs only since the 19th century). |
| STOUP: |
A basin with holy water, near the entrance of the church. |
| STRING COURSE: |
A horizontal band running across a façade and usually projecting from it. |
| TRACERY: |
The ornamental masonry pieces making patterns in the upper part of arched windows or belfry openings. |
| TRANSEPTS: |
The short arms of a church projecting north and south from the crossing. |
| TRANSOM: |
A horizontal bar in a window (usually a feature of large Perpendicular windows). |
| TRIFORIUM: |
A row of arches above the arcade and below the clerestory in large Norman churches. |
| TRUSS: |
A series of beams forming a triangular frame to support the roof timbers. The ends either rest upon the walls or on stone brackets (corbels). |
| TYMPANUM: |
The space within an arch above a doorway which was usually decorated in Norman churches. |
| VAULT: |
An arched ceiling of stone or brick (when supported by thin lengths of masonry it is known as rib vaulting). |
| VERNACULAR: |
Buildings made from local materials in styles and construction methods passed down within a distinct geographical area. |
| VESTRY: |
A room where vestments are stored (also used for storing vessels etc in the Church of England; many are Victorian or modern additions). |
| VOUSSOIR: |
A wedge-shaped segment which makes up an arch. |
