| AdminHistory | Prior to the establishment of the Diocese of Sheffield in 1914, faculties were granted in the archbishopric of York. These records are available at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. An index, 1613 - 1899, has been published as 'Church Fabric in the York Diocese: The Records of the Archbishop’s Faculty Jurisdiction, 1613-1899', Peter Evans (University of York: Borthwick Text and Calendar 19, 1995).
Glossary (taken from the Oxford English Dictionary):
Altar - A block or table on which to place offerings.
Ambulatory - a walkway, usually covered.
Apse - arched roof inside a church.
Aumbry - cabinet to store vessels.
Baldachino - silk fabric interwoven with gold or silver threads.
Bapistry / baptistery - area in a church where baptisms are performed.
Bell cote - a small shelter, with a roof, for bells.
Chancel - eastern part of a church, used by the clergy.
Ciborium - a canopy over an altar or a container to hold bread for communion.
Clergy stall - fixed seats built in rows along the sides of the chancel and used by the clergy and choir.
Columbarium - vault or other structure with recesses in the walls for cremated remains.
Corbell - sculptured basket for flowers.
Corona - possibly a chandelier or a projecting part of cornice supporting the cymatium.
Credence table - table or shelf on which the communion wine and bread are placed previous to consecration.
Cruet - glass bottle, often used for holding vinegar or oil
Dais - raised platform
Dossal / dossell - ornamental cloth, usually embroidered, hung at the back of the altar or at the sides of the chancel.
Ewer - vessel with handle and spout
Fleche - spire, often above point where nave and transept meet.
Font - bowl to hold water used for baptisms.
Gradine - steps up to the altar or shelf or ledge at the back of an altar.
Hassocks - cushion used as a footstool or for kneeling.
Lectern / lecturn - A reading or singing-desk often in the form of an eagle with outspread wings supported on a column.
Narthex - enclosed passage between the entrance of a church and the nave
Nave - the main part of a church, usually where the congregation sit.
Oratory - small chapel or room, used for prayer.
Pace - passage between the pews or seats, an aisle
Paten - a plate used to hold the bread during communion.
Piscina - stone basin for draining water used in the Mass, found chiefly in Roman Catholic churches.
Prie dieu - furniture for kneeling on during prayers.
Pulpit - a raised platform from which the clergy delivered a sermon. Sometimes the pulpit had a roof and often a desk and seat attached.
Reredos - ornamental screen of stone or wood covering the wall at the back of an altar.
Riddel - a curtain, especially an altar curtain.
Riddel post - post on which a riddel or curtain hangs.
Rood - crucifix or cross form
Rood screen - A screen crossing the nave of a church beneath the chancel-arch and separating the nave from the choir.
Roundel - decorative plate, panel or tablet
Sacrarium - that part of a church immediately surrounding the altar or communion table; also called the sanctuary.
Sanctuary - see Sacrarium.
Screen - a partition
Sedilia - seats, usually in a set of three, for use by the clergy.
Stave church - wooden church.
Staves - rod or wand used as a symbol of office.
Thurible - vessel suspended on chains in which incense is burned
Transept - that part of the church forming the arms of the crucifix layout.
Transom - cross-beam or cross-piece, esp. one spanning an opening.
Triptych - set of three writing-tablets hinged or tied together.
Tympanum - a recessed space often decorated with a sculpture
Vestry - room or part of a church where the clergy and choir put on their robes. Also used to store robes, vessel and records of the church; meeting place for the parochial church council.
Votive - offered or given in accordance with a vow. |