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.

---

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

---

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

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

From Scientific American

Visitors wander around the cathedral, many craning their necks to take in the details of the roof or the dominating rood screen.

From BBC

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

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