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Abacus

An abacus is a flat slab which forms the uppermost member of the capital of a column. It is derived from the greek word abax, slab or French abaque, tailloir. The pleural is abacuses or abaci.

Its chief function is to provide a large supporting surface (wider than the capital) to receive the weight of the arch or the architrave above.

Abutment

The point where an arch (in a horizontal or vertical direction) or vault meets its solid support.

Acanthus

Formalized leaf ornament with thick veins and frilled edge

	Achievement Of Arms
	In heraldry a complete display of armorial bearings. This example is from Lyddington Bede House in Rutland which is open to visitors and managed by English Heritage.

Acroterion

Plinth for a statue or ornament placed at the end or apex of a pediment

Addorsed

Description of two figues positioned symmetrically back to back

Aedicule

Architectural surround consisting usually of two columns or pilasters supporting a pediment, framing a nice or opening

Affronted

Description of two figures placed symmetrically face to face

	Agnus Dei	FULL GUIDE IMAGES
	Agnus dei is Latin for the Lamb of God and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in has role as the perfect sacrificial offering That atones for the sins of humanity. It can be found in many different guises throughout English churches. The image on the left is a carved panel from the front of a lecturn featuring the lamb and the cross. See the full guide for further details and images

Aisle

The spaces along the sides of the nave or chancel, and separated from it by an arcade. Aisles differ from transepts in being longer E-W than N-S.

	Alabaster
	A soft stone that could be carved to make an effigy. In appearance it has a look similar to that of marble and is similarly cold to the touch. The example left is from St Luke's Church in Gaddesby and shows Colonel Cheney at Waterloo.

	Altar
	The holiest part of a church. In the medieval period the altar was a table or rectangular slab made of stone or marble, often set upon a raised step. After the Reformation the stone altars were replaced by wooden communion tables.

Ambo

If there is one speaker’s stand in the center of the front of the church, as is typical in churches with a lecture-hall floor plan, it serves the functions of both lectern and pulpit. The word ambo comes from a Greek word meaning ‘both.’ In common usage, however, ambos are incorrectly called pulpits.

Ambulatory

A covered passage behind the altar, linking it with chapels at the east end of the church.

Angle Roll

Roll moulding in the angle between two planes eg between the orders of an arch

Annulet

In architecture, annulets are small square components in the Doric capital, under the quarter-round. They are also called fillets or listels.

Anse De Panier

Basket arch

Antae

Flat pilasters with capitals different from the order they accompany, placed at the ends of the short projecting walls of a portico or of a colonade which is then called In Antis

Antefixae

Ornaments projecting at regular intervals above a classical cornice, originally to conceal the ends of roof tiles

Antependium

See frontal

Anthemion

A covered Classical ornament like a honeysuckle flower

Apron

Raised panel below a window sill sometimes shaped and decorated

Apse

If the wall behind the altar (usually the east wall) is curved, it forms a semicircular space which is called an apse. In ancient times, large church buildings were modeled after a type of Roman public building that had such a wall.

	Arcade
	A series of arches supported by piers or columns.

Architrave

The horizontal block between columns or piers that spans the area between them.

Arris

The sharp edge of a building component, such as a window or door surround.

Art Deco

Fashionable in the 1920s and 1930s, this style features in strong outlines, geometry, bold colours, industrial materials and a liking for the exotic.

Art Nouveau

Fashionable from the 1880s to early 1900s, Art Nouveau delights in movement with flowing organic forms and curves. Areas of rich ornament are often contrasted with plain, if not severe, forms. In Britain, the style was more widely adopted for interiors rather than exteriors.

	Ashlar
	Carefully dressed stonework which usually has a fine smooth surface, and a close fit such that mortar lines between the stone are barely visible. Obviously this required a high degree of craftmanship which in its day would have been costly.  An example of fine limestone ashlar is St Mary Magdalene Church in Stapleford.

Attached Shaft

An architectural feature that looks like a shaft or column partially sunk into the wall surface.

	Aumbry
	An aumbry (or ambry) is a niche in the wall in a large church. It is generally used for storing various articles including sacred vessels that are used in worship and communion.

Baldacchino

Tent like canopy covering a freestanding altar

Ballflower

A type of decorated decoration consiting of small widely spaced spheres in a concave moulding

Balustrade

A form of protection to the edge of a building or terrace, consisting of vertical masonry (or cast-iron or concrete) uprights with massive bases and copes. The uprights are 'balusters', and are usually shaped in an ornamental way. Balustrades are often divided into sections by 'dies', solid sections rising above the copes.

Battlement

Alternating higher and lower sections sometimes pieced and imitating fortification

Bellcote or bellfry

A support for a bell or bells, usually mounted on a gable or wallhead. In churches with towers, spires or steeples the bell or bells are usually in a chamber at the top of the tower.

	Boss
	A projecting carved section in a vault or ceiling, found where two or more supports meet. In medieval churches these were often elaborately or grotesquely carved, and usually designed to be part of an iconographic scheme. This example is from the Chancel of All Saints Church, Blakeney, Norfolk

Bullnosed

Masonry made of blocks with curved outer faces. Also used to refer to the timber with lead capping at the edge of a flat roof

Buttress

A rib of masonry projecting from the face of a wall. Its primary purpose is to strengthen the wall, and to resist the outward thrust of roof trusses or masonry vaulting, but it also has a decorative purpose.

	Cames
	The grooved strips of lead which form the structure of a stained or leaded glass window

Cap House

A structure covering the top of a spiral staircase giving access to the top of a tower or wallhead

Capital

The top section of a column, in classical architecture. immediately under the architrave. In Romanesque and Gothic architecture the capital (often abbreviated to 'cap') is usually the point from which the arch begins to curve ('springs'). 

Capping

A covering, usually of lead, applied to the top of a wall or other feature, to prevent water penetration.

	Chancel
	The part of a church in which the altar or communion table is set. It should, in a Church of Scotland, also accommodate the font, and usually the pulpit. It is sometimes a separate chamber at the east end of the building, but is commonly simply an area at the east end of a rectangular worship space.

	Christogram	GUIDE
	A Christogram is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbol. Different types of Christograms are associated with the various traditions of Christianity.

Classical

Classical architecture refers to the building styles of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. These were rediscovered during the Renaissance, and made fashionable across Europe from the fifteenth century onwards. It is characterised by an attempt to provide a harmonious sense of proportion and balance by adherence to the Orders. Buildings are usually grandiose and built of stone, and generally feature pediments and columns. There have been several revivals of the style; see Neoclassical.

	Clerestory
	The row of windows in a nave or choir, set above the aisle roof. Also used to refer to any high-level windows above a roof

Column

A column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below.

	Corbel
	In architecture a corbel (or console) is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight.

Corinthian

A classical order of ancient Greek and Roman Architecture

Cornice

Crenellation

The treatment of a parapet wallhead as in a mediaeval castle, with tall and short sections alternating. Common in early Gothic Revival churches.

Cresting

The name given to ornamental cast-iron roof ridging.

Crockets

Stylised leaves carved along the edges of pinnacles, or round doorways, in late Gothic and Gothic Revival buildings

Crown Steeple

A form of steeple in which the masonry of the corners of a tower is carried up in a curve to meet above the centre of the tower.

Crow Steps

The fashioning of the skews of a gable as a series of steps, a traditional Scots vernacular feature

Cruciform

Used to describe a building on a cross plan. Most cruciform churches are on a Latin cross plan, in which one arm of the cross is significantly longer than the other three. A cross with equal arms is known as a Greek cross

Cupola

A domed top stage of a tower, often used as a belfry. Also used to refer to a large glazed rooflight over a hall or stairway.

Cusp

A projecting point formed where two curves meet. Cusps are found a great deal in Gothic architecture, owing to the love of ornamentation. They add extra decoration to window tracery, furniture and sculptural carvings.

Dado Rail

A waist-height projecting rail, running along an inside wall. Commonly the area below the dado rail is covered with vertical boarding. Sometimes it is panelled. Wooden panelling is also commonly used round a chancel area (see wainscotting).

Decorated Gothic

A style found in English medieval architecture, developed from the later thirteenth century to the mid fourteenth century. Decorated Gothic lives up to its name: it delights in geometric ornament and variety, possessing a certain restlessness. Decorated buildings tend to strive for the massive, but cover these with geometrical patterns and points of naturalistic carving. There was also much interest in spatial effects, with innovatively shaped plans in many churches, stonework intricately cut, and huge windows. Many Victorian architects like Pugin and Street thought this was the finest period of English medieval architecture, and re-employed this in their own buildings.

Diaper Work

Decorative effect on walls achieved with diamond or square patterns. This is most easily achieved with brick, using different coloured bricks across walls. However diaper patterns can also be in stone, even tiles. Popular in medieval buildings, such as at Jesus College Cambridge.

Doric

An order of classical architecture - characterised by squat, flat, wedge-like capitals. 

Dormer Window

Usually small, these windows are found in roofs lighting attic rooms. They emerge out of the sloping angles of the roof, and usually have their own small gable. Dormer windows are found extensively in medieval and Tudor architecture. In Georgian architecture they are often hidden behind a parapet. However, they became a much used feature in Picturesque and Victorian architecture.

Dripmould

Droved

A treatment of ashlar masonry in which a series of parallel grooves is cut along the face of individual stones. These are frequently at an angle, and may be very slight, or quite prominent.

	Easter Sepulchre
	This is an arched recess usually oin the north wall of the chancel in which the crucifix and sacred elements used to commemorate Christs entombment and resurrection are deposited from Good Friday until Easter Sunday. It was generally a wooden structure which was placed in a recess or on top of a tomb

Eclecticism

When architecture derives from many sources, historical and geographical, it is called eclectic. Late Georgian architecture was often eclectic, with buildings in a variety of architectural styles, inspired by Indian, Islamic and medieval architecture. Late Victorian architecture was also said to be eclectic. In both eras, architects copied other styles, mixing them together, with sometimes peculiar, but often glorious results.

Engaged Columns

Semicircular shaped columns applied to the surface of a flat wall / face of a building

English Renaissance

The progressive Renaissance architecture of Italy was out of bounds to most English artists and patrons. Elizabethan artists and designers therefore only borrowed details of Roman architecture. Only with Inigo Jones did British architecture mature, buildings becoming as sophisticated as those in Italy, and worthy of the description English Renaissance.

	Entablature
	An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals.

Etched Glass

Etching involves apply to the surface of claer glass a process which renders it opaque. There are various ways of achieving this including sand blasting and chemical etching

This process can be used to apply patterns to the surface of glass or two add lettering to the surface such as house names or numbers. It was popular in Victorian times, examples of which can still be seen on doors and entrances.