A list prepared by Ted Pearson to assist with the various terms in the Church History Documents
| Acolyte | (in Christianity) an officer who assists the priest. |
| Advowson | right of presentation (gift) of the benefice. (Church living) |
| Aisle | parallel with the nave a passage between rows of seats. |
| Appropriated | made over to or assigned to a special owner. |
| Arcade | passage arched over. / A row of columns supporting a series of arches. |
| Ashlar | masonry consisting of smooth, accurately cut stone laid in regular courses. |
| Aumbry | closed recess in wall of Church. |
| Balistraria | opening, through which a cross bow could be fired. |
| Balusters | short round pillars. |
| Bar | dividing the glass into small squares. |
| Belfry | bell tower, room in which bells are hung. |
| Benefice | a Church living; a Church office with an income for the holder |
| Buttress | a vertical mass of masonry projecting from a wall to strengthen the wall and to resist the outward pressure of a vaulted roof. |
| Capitals | head of pillar or pilaster wider than the shaft and usually ornamented. |
| Carthusian | an order of monks founded in Dauphine in 1086 by St. Bruno, and remarkable for the severity of their rule. |
| Chancel / Choir / Quire | part of church where the Altar is placed. (Normally the Eastern end) |
| Cinquefoil | 5 arcs separated from each other by cusps. 5 lobes. |
| Clearstory | clear windows generally high above the main body of the Church. |
| Clover Leaf | shaped like a clover leaf, ie. 3 scollops, or trefoil. |
| Coped / Coping | brick or stone used as a top finish to protect the top of a wall. |
| Corbels | projection of stone, timber etc. jutting out from wall to support weight / short timber laid longitudinally under beam to shorten its unsupported span. |
| Curate | a member of the clergy who assists a Rector or Vicar. Has additional historic meaning. |
| Double Leaf Door | double door. |
| Dressing | external part of a building other than the plain work, (accented part of the wall) Eg. ashor, quoins, cills, heads, etc. in brick or rubble building. |
| Embattled | has battlements. |
| English Decorated | second or middle style of English Gothic architecture (1250-1400). |
| Foliage Stops | having a leaf like decoration at the end of a moulding. |
| Gable | the triangular-shaped section of an end wall of a building enclosed on 2 sides by the roof from the eaves to the apex. |
| Gothic | Characterized by pointed window and arches. (1200-1500) (revival 1850s) |
| Head | the topmost horizontal member of a door or window frame. |
| Head stop | close, stop or end of moulding with the figure of a head. |
| Hide | varying in extent; 60-120 acres. The amount required by one free family and its dependants, As much land as could be tilled with one plough in a year. Literally the amount of land that would be enclosed by the hide of a sheep cut up and sewn into a long strip. |
| Hood mould | a projecting band of dressed stone, plain or embellished. Generally over the head of a door or window to take the drips to the side of the door etc. |
| Jacobean date | reign of James 1st [1603-25]. |
| Kneeler | block of stone with an inclined face, built into a gable wall to support a coping stone / a cushion or hassock used for kneeling |
| Lancet | high narrow pointed opening [“gothic”] 12th-13th century. Usually recessed. |
| Light | perpendicular divisions on a mullioned window. / window or opening in a wall for the admission of light. / upright dividing bar in a window. |
| Litany | recitation by clergy and responded to (usually) in recurring formula by the congregation. |
| Living / Church Living | See benefice |
| Medieval | middle ages. Commonly (5th Cent), the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance (middle of the 15th Cent.). |
| Mendicant | members of a religious order that lived entirely on alms (i.e. begging). |
| Middle ages | Medieval (5th Cent or fall of the Roman Empire to the mid. 15th cent.) |
| Mouldings | continuous projections or incisions used as a decorative band / Moulded orders – rows of mouldings. The ornamental curves carved on projections. It may be plain or elaborately carved. |
| Mullion | a vertical bar, generally of stone or wood, dividing a glass window into lights. |
| Nave | middle or body of church from inner door to the choir. |
| Nook-shafts | Nook – out of the way comer, recess, secluded place. / Shaft – part of a column between base and capital. |
| Octagonal corbels | 8 sides, (therefore half having 4 flats faces). |
| Offset | sloping ledge in wall etc. where thickness of part above is diminished. eg. Slope on a gothic or flying buttress. / a small projection or ledge of brick work supporting ground floor joists. |
| Ogee | an arch or moulding with a convex & concave curve. Originally a Muslim shape. |
| Parapet | low wall at edge of balcony, roof etc.. |
| Parson | A clergyman – a term that includes roles such as Rector or Vicar |
| Patriarchs | father/leading figure/bishop/ruler of family or tribe/venerable old man. |
| Piscina | Perforated stone basin usually built into the wall on the south side of the Altar. Used for carrying away the ablutions (wine & water used to rinse the chalice & wash the priest’s hands after communion). |
| Plinth | projecting block at base of column, or projecting base of wall or other structure. |
| Quatrefoil | an ornamental design of 4 lobes or leaves as used in architecture. |
| Quion | dressed stone placed at comer of a wall of rubble or brick, which are usually long and short alternately. |
| Rector | The priest in charge of a parish who is entitled to the parish tithes. |
| Rectory | entitled to the tithes. / the official house of a rector. |
| Reredos / Rerodos | screen or wall decorated at the back of an Altar. Retable frame enclosing Rerodos. |
| Responds | Half-pillar or half-pier attached to wall to support an arch. ( frequently as termination of an arcade, carrying the springer ) |
| Reticulated | divided or marked into small squares or network. |
| Reveals | Internal side surface of an opening or recess. esp. of a straight sided doorway, window or aperture. |
| Rood-loft-(Altar) | a gallery above a screen, which separates the nave from the choir. |
| Rounder | semi-circular arch. |
| Sacrarium | 1/ within the Altar rails / sanctuary of a Church. 2/ Roman Catholic it is a place near the Altar of a Church where materials used in the sacred rites are deposited or poured away. |
| Sanctuary | part of Church within the Altar-rails, therefore within the chancel. |
| Sedilia | usually a series of 3 canopied seats for priests set in the south wall of the chancel. |
| Spandrels | space between shoulder of an arch and the surrounding rectangular moulding of the framework. |
| Splay | bevel or slope at a door or window opening / embrasure. |
| Springings / Springer | level from which an arch begins to spring, / To curve inward and upward. |
| Straight headed | straight across. esp. the surrounds above, and below Gothic windows. |
| String Courses | mouldings or a projecting course running horizontally along the face of a building. |
| Terrier | register of landed property with boundaries, acreage, etc. rent-roll. / register of person’s land etc. with rents due from them; / sum of a person’s income from rents. |
| Tracery | decorated stone open-work, especially in head of gothic window, or interlaced work of vault, or of a vault ceiling etc. anything suggesting this, (also on woodwork) |
| Vestry | room or part of Church used for keeping vestments, vessels, etc. of the church reserved for clergy, choir etc.. |
| Vicar | The priest in charge of a supported parish – without entitlement to the parish tithes (although may be allocated a small title by a Rector). |
| Victorian | 1837 to 1901. |
| Weatherings | slope on a wall or buttress to throw of rain water. |