Parclose screen

<h2 id="location">Location</h2>
<p>As many chantry chapels and manorial chapels were situated at the east end (closest to the holy city of <a href="/facts/Jerusalem/PKJ8LT0Y">Jerusalem</a>) of the north or south aisles, next to the chancel, frequently they lay within the area enclosed by the chancel screen. 
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<h2 id="function">Function</h2>
<p>The parclose screen is designed to restrict physical access to those unauthorised to enter, yet still to allow a good view into the restricted area and the entry of sunlight, and also, most importantly, to allow for communication with the high altar in the chancel during the <a href="/facts/Elevation_of_the_host/4lDpfg1A">elevation of the host</a> at mass. This is usually achieved by the use of <a href="/facts/Tracery/GHKQhsIT">tracery</a> to form the screen. Where a solid masonry wall is used instead of a screen, a <a href="/facts/Hagioscope/WzXEuww3">hagioscope</a> or <a href="/facts/Hagioscope/WzXEuww3"> squint</a> is required to serve the same purpose. Parclose screens are made of stone or wood and are often decoratively carved, frequently featuring the coats of arms of the family concerned.
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<h2 id="etymology">Etymology</h2>
<p>The word derives from the French noun <i>parclose</i><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> (f), from the Latin verb <i><i>claudo</i></i>, "to close" plus the preposition <i>per</i>, "through, along, over".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> 
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<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>In England, the use of parclose screens was largely discontinued in the 16th century after the <a href="/facts/Reformation/9ClEbhnL">Reformation</a>, and after the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries/SSxJkzch">Dissolution of the Monasteries</a> when <a href="/facts/Chantries/LCQN7AtD">chantries</a> were dissolved. There was therefore no further need to have several altars in the same church, each serving a separate private chantry chapel. The concept of the manorial chapel was also discontinued a few centuries after, when burials inside churches and manorial chapels were discontinued. The manorial pew, not screened-off from the congregation, replaced the screened-off manorial chapel. Many fine examples of mediaeval parclose screens survive in the parish churches and cathedrals of England.
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<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Parclose" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Parclose" target="_blank">https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Parclose</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Collins Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd Edition, London, 1986, p.1116 <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Larousse, Dictionnaire de la langue francaise, "Lexis", Paris, 1979, pp.1332,1327,361; Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928, pp.102,400 <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Parclose screen open-in-new

Parclose screen