GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS SECTION
- Aisle
Extension to a church by conversion of the former
exterior wall to an arcade, covered with a lean-to roof.
- Apsidal (Apse): In Saxon and Norman architecture, the
semi-circular end of a chancel.
- Arcade: Range of arches supported on columns.
- Aumbry: Cupboard to hold sacred vessels.
- Advowson;A right of presentation to a a vacant
benefice
- Bothie
Small, generally one roomed, hut, common up
to the Seventeenth Century, not unknown much later.
George Stephenson was born in one.
- Chancel: Eastern end of a church containing the altar.
-
Clerestory: High nave windows, above the level of the aisle
roof, to admit direct light into the nave.
- Corbel
An elaborately carved wall bracket; not to be confused
with a gargoyle which it much resembles, but which is
actually an elaborate gutterspout.
- Gnomon: Metal rod, in the centre of a dial.
-
Incumbent;
Person in present possession of a benefice or office
-
Louvre;
System of slats designed to allow free passage to air and
sound but
exclude rain.
- Lancet: Narrow window with pointed arch.
- Misercord: Carved underside of a choir stall seat.
- Nave: Main part of a church.
-
Piscina:
Sink for the washing of sacramental vessels; the
drain leads onto
consecrated ground.
-
Reredos:Carved screen forming a backing piece to an altar.
- Priest's door: Generally in the chancel.
- Reredos: Structure behind and above an altar.
- Rood screen: A carved wooden screen separating chancel from
nave, but mostly destroyed in the Reformation. Traditionally figures of
Christ Crucified (the Rood) flanked by St Mary Virgin and St John the
Evangelist stood above the screen.
- Sanctuary: Area around the High Altar.
- Scratch or Mass dial: A sun dial on the south face of the
church, which cast the sun's shadow on marks (scratches) to indicate the
time of masses. See Gnomon.
- Transept: North and south of the crossing where the nave and
chancel meet.
Approximate Periods of English Church Architecture:—
- Saxon c7th - 1066
- Norman 1066 - 1190
- (Transitional Norman/E. English) (1175 - 1200)
- Early English 1190 - 1280
- Decorated 1280 - 1370 Gothic
- Perpendicular 1370 - 1550
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