Architectural terms

A vaulted semicircular or polygonal end of a chancel or chapel.

A building or part of a church used for baptisms.

A regularly repeated spatial element defined by beams or ribs and their supports. For example the bay of an arcade in a church.

Wood that has been buried in a peat bog, and preserved from decay. The wood may be hundreds, or thousands of years old and represents the early stages of fossilisation.

An octagonal spire rising from a square tower without a parapet, and with pyramidal forms at the angles.

A blue-grey or white marble from Tuscany that has been used for building and sculpture since antiquity. Favoured by sculptors it was used by Michelangelo for the sculpture of David, and in the building of Marble Arch.

These were private chapels either within or separate from a church which was dedicated to the singing of Christian masses for the souls of the founder and his family. The founder would bequeath money or land, to build the chapel and to employ a priest to perform the rites. The practice became popular in the 13th century though chantries had existed and spread with the monasteries in the 11th century. As guilds became wealthy they also endowed chantries to say masses for departed Guild members.

The Chantries in England were declared in the reformation of Henry VIII (1545) to be misapplied funds and misappropriated lands. Edward VI suppressed the remaining 2,300 chantries in 1547 declaring that all properties should go to charitable causes. Most of it went to his advisers.

Chhatris are elevated domed pavilions in Indian architecture. The word comes from Hinduistani and means umbrella and are found throughout the northwestern region of Rajasthan. These structures are also used on funeral sites and in Mughal architecture they can be found adorning the Tomb of Humayan, and the Taj Mahal. In other places they are used to mark the cremation site of wealthy individuals.

Tracery or ornamental shape with five lobes or foils.

Upper storey of the nave, pierced with windows. When aisles were added to a church the roof of the nave was frequently raised and a clerestory added to allow extra light in.

Church with a college of priests. In pre-reformation England they were supported by lands given to the church, they may also have contained a Chantry Chapel, and were under the administration of a dean.

A block of stone projecting from a wall that supports some other feature.

Used in Gothic and neo-Gothic design a crocket is an upward-oriented ornament, often vegetable in form, regularly spaced along sloping or vertical edges of emphasized features such as spires, pinnacles, and gables.

Medieval effigies of knights with their legs crossed, indicated that the person represented had taken in part in a Crusade.

A style of English Gothic between 1290 - 1350. Characterised by the Intersecting tracery and Reticulated tracery found in church windows of the period.

A style of Gothic architecture between 1190 and 1250.

This secular style of architecture and art arrived in France at the end of the 15th century and coincides with the invasion of Italy in 1494. Eventually supplanted that of the Flamboyant Gothic the style was popular until end of the 16th century and is characterized by the architecture for the châteaux of the Loire Valley. The period is divided into two styles that of the Early Renaissance up until about 1`530, and that of Mannerism, from 1530 until it in turn gave way to the Baroque in about 1610. The earlier style of architecture is epitomized by the Château d'Amboise, and the Palace of Fontainebleau being an example of Mannerism.

English Gothic architecture that covers the period between 1250 and 1290.

A representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture, and usually associated with a recumbent effigy of a person dying or in death.

A rich tawny brown ferruginous limestone of the middle lias, green, mauve, and greyish-blue tints also occur. The quarry at Hornton in Oxfordshire is now closed but another outcrop occurs at Edge Hill in Warwickshire.

Hornton Stone was used in the building of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, St Paul's and Canterbury Cathedral. It was also the favourite material used by the Sculptors Henry Moore and Eric Gill.

In Indian architecture pierced screens were used as windows, room dividers, and railings around thrones, platforms, terraces, and balconies. Installed in outer walls, they were ideal for cutting down glare while permitting air to circulate.

A narrow pointed arched window.

Horizontal beam or stone bridging an opening.

French for "little moon", a lunette is a crescent-shaped or semicircular area on a wall or vaulted ceiling, framed by an arch or vault.

A wooden roofed gateway at the entrance to a churchyard where a coffin or shroud covered corpse is received. Traditionally the corpse would be placed on a bier and the priest would conduct the first part of the service under the lychgate.

An enclosed porch or vestibule at the entrance to some early Christian churches. Sometimes it was within the church itself but divided off from the nave by a screen or rail.

The part of a church were the laity are seated, west of the chancel.

A double S-type curve where the arcs curve in opposite directions. The term is often applied to mouldings.

English Gothic architectural style between 1340 - 1530. Characterised by the upright tracery panels.

A basin with a drain for washing the communion vessels. Usually set into the wall south of an altar.

A work of art in many colours. Often used in relation to certain styles of multiple coloured architecture, pottery or sculpture.

A carved ornamental finial at the end of a bench, pew, or stall.

A representation of a person, as if in life, kneel as if in prayer.

Ranging in colour from russet red, to greenish brown or blue grey, this hard limestone containing many small shells, is called 'marble' due to its ability to take a very high polish. It is used in many Gothic cathedrals and church monuments in England. The name comes from Purbeck in Dorset where it is quarried.

1. Square or lozenge shaped panes of glass supported by lead strips. In medieval times they were sometimes painted with a yellow stain. They usually form a background for painted figures.

2. Square floor tiles, or slabs.

Tracery or an ornament with four foils or lobes.

A term that designates the second phase of Gothic architecture in France, from 1240-1350. The style is characterized with decoration and repetitive motifs, rather than with obtaining greater height and scale, as characterized by the High Gothic. Amiens cathedral is considered to be the earliest example of the style being a transition between the High Gothic and the Rayonnant. The best example being La Sainte-Chapelle in Paris which was built for the personal use of Louis IX of France.

A decorative screen or facing on the wall at the back of an altar.

A style of architecture that was current in Medieval Europe between C11 and C12. It preceded the Gothic Style and was inspired by the Roman style of rounded arches, and a basilica planned layout. It also took its inspirations from Visigoth, Carolingian, Byzantine and Islamic architecture.

The style is characterized by thick heave walls and pillars, rounded stone barrel vaults, rounded arches and small windows.

A cross erected at the entry to the chancel.

The gallery upon which the rood is supported. Usually figures of the Virgin Mary and St John would be placed there on either side of the rood.

A screen built beneath the rood loft.

A circular window with a central tracery pattern.

A room in a church for keeping the sacred vessels and vestments.

Seats for priests on the south side of the chancel. They are usually recessed into the chancel wall and usually three in number.

The triangular spaces between an arch and its containing rectangle.

A decorative motif of woven or interlaced bands of scrollwork that may be pierced with interwoven circles and ovals.

A canopy above a pulpit.

Toranas are a Jain architectural feature that mark the entrance to a temple.

Tracery or ornamental shape with three lobes or foils.

A central post (often highly decorated) supporting a lintel and Tympanum.

A semi-circular or triangular decorative surface between a lintel and arch. Usually over a doorway or other entrance.

Small figures in niches along the sides of medieval tombs.