rood screen

American  

noun

1. a screen, often of elaborate design and properly surmounted by a rood, separating the nave from the choir or chancel of a church.

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rood screen British  

noun

1. a partition of stone or wood, often richly carved and decorated, that separates the chancel from the main part of a church: it is surmounted by a crucifix (rood), and was an important feature of medieval churches, though in England many rood screens were destroyed at the Reformation

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Etymology

Origin of rood screen

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

The team also recovered well-preserved painted sculptures and many pieces of the medieval rood screen, which once divided congregants from clergy until it was demolished under Louis XIV.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 20, 2022

There’s another reference that says a clock was installed above the rood screen of a church.

From Scientific American • Jan. 28, 2022

Beyond the house, the road meandered upward past more villas, then dustily through a cluster of old cottages around the medieval parish church, which had a distinguished rood screen.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 21, 2019

This panel hung for many years behind the rood screen of a small church in rural Belgium, but its current whereabouts are unknown.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2018

The upper stalls number in all thirty-six, fifteen on either side, and six with their backs to the rood screen.

From Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings by Perkins, Thomas, Rev.