CHANCEL, that part of a church which is appropriated to the clergy and others officiating in the public services.
The term comes from the Latin, cancellus, which, in the lower Latin, is used in the same sense, from cuncelli, latt ices, or cross-bars, which anciently partitioned the chancel from the other part of the church.
Externally, the chancel is distinguished as a projection at the east end, of smaller dimensions than the nave, and with out aisles ; so that ‘1 hen the body of the church is accom panied by aisles, it is very readily recognized, and in other cases by its proportionate dimensions. Sometimes, however, the chancel is of the same size and height as the nave, and the aisles are continued to its eastern extremity ; but even in this case the division may he shown by means of a belfry on the apex of the roof at that spot or by some other such method ; in some instances there is no distinction externally. Internally the chancel is usually separated from the nave by a lofty arch, in the spandrels above which is often a picture of the Last Judgment ; a further separation is effected by an ornamental screen of wood or stone, more frequently of the former, panelled and pierced in open tracery, surmounting which was in former times, the rood-loft, or gallery in which the rood, or large crucifix, accompanied by the images of the blessed Virgin and St. John, was placed, facing the west end of the church. Here the level of the flooring was raised by one or more steps, and again before you arrive at the plat form on which stood the altar ; in one or two cases the chancel is depressed below the level of the nave, but these are purely exceptions.
When the aisles of the nave are continued eastward, the only division consists of the screen and steps; but the dis tinction will be effected by some difl'erence in the roof; or by the superior quality of the decoration. In such cases the aisles are partitioned off from the chancel by other screens or parcloses.
The chancel is lighted by the east window, which should be the most important in the building, and by two or more in the north and south walls, according to its length. There is
a door in one of the side-walls, towards the east end, for the priest, leading into the vestry, or forming his entrance into the church. The roof is of a more elaborate character than that in other parts of the structure, as indeed are all the enrichments. The floor was often covered with encaustic tiles, with devices of various colours painted on their surface. while the aisles in the body of the edifice were paved with tiles of a plainer description ; the whole of the walls were sometimes decorated with colour and rich hangings, a method which has of late been adopted with success in one or two churches in London.
In the centre of the eastern wall was the altar, and on the south of it the piseina, usually formed by a recess, in the ' eastern extremity of the south wall, and used to wash the sacred vessels, to contain which. %viten not in use, was pro vided an aumbry or cupboard near the piscina. and taken out of the thickness of the south or north wall, furnished with a door and means of securing it. Adjacent to the piseina are sometiMes 1'4)111111, especially in the larger churches, seats fin the officiating priests. These sedilla, as they are termed, consisted of stone or wooden seats, varying in number from one to five, the more usual number being three, raised in I gradation one above the other, according to the rank of the clergy who were to occupy them ; when of stone, they are more generally cut, out of the thickness of the wall ; when of wood, they !nay be movable. Westward of these, disposed on each side of the chancel, are the seats for the choristers, con sisting of two or three rows, one in front of the other and a little below it. Occasionally these seats are returned in front of the rood screen, and in that case they always thee eastward toward the altar.