| Calamine (Calamine) | | A pink powder made from zinc and iron oxide. It is used in medicine as a soothing lotion. | |
| Capability Brown (Capability Brown) | | Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716-83) was a famous landscape gardener. He designed over 170 parks and gardens, many of which still exist today. His gardens had green undulating lawns with bands and clumps of trees, planted to give the impression of a romantic natural scene. Everything was carefully planned to give a sense of informality and of natural beauty. | |
| Carding (Carding) | | A process in the preparation of raw wool (or other fibres) for spinning. The wool fibres are pulled (combed) between two spiked paddles in order to clean and arrange the fibres. | |
| Carmelite (Carmelite, Carmelites) | | An order of mendicant (begging) friars originally founded in Palestine in the 12th century. They then reformed in Europe in the 13th century after the failure of the Crusades. They are also known as the White Friars from the white hooded cloak worn over their clothes (habits). They took vows of poverty and toil, didn't eat meat and only spoke during certain times of the day. | |
| Carthusian (Carthusian, Carthusians) | | A monastic order founded in Chartreuse, in France, by St Bruno in 1084. Those following the order were bound to vows of silence and lived closed off from the rest of the world. | |
| Catholic (Catholic, Catholics) | | A Christian religion, following the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is headed by the Pope. Also called Roman Catholic. | |
| Cellarer (Cellarer, Cellarers) | | A person, usually in a monastery, responsible for providing food and drink. | |
| Chancel (Chancel, Chancels) | | The part of the church near the altar. It is reserved for use by the clergy, ministers and the choir. It is always at the eastern end of the church. | |
| Chantry (Chantry, Chantries) | | A chapel endowed (given money) for the celebration of Masses for the soul of the donor. Wealthy people would often pay to have them built in a church. This was so that a priest could say prayers for them everyday, thus ensuring their place in heaven. | |
| charnel (charnel) | | A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains (bones)are stored. | |
| Chartism (chartism, chartist) | | Chartism was a movement for political and social reform between 1838 and 1850. Its name comes from the People’s Charter of 1838. This set out the movements 6 main aims. They were: a vote for every man over 21, a secret ballot, to freely elect MPs, payment for MPs so that they could be working class people not just the rich, equal votes for each political constituency, annual elections of MPs. It was possibly the first working class labour movement in the world. | |
| Choir (Choir, Quire) | | The part of a church between the Nave and the Chancel where the choir sits | |
| Cholera (Cholera) | | A disease of the intestines that causes severe diarrhoea, vomitting and stomach cramps. It is caused by bacteria in water. It often leads to death by dehydration. In the summer of 1849 over 13,000 people, in just three months, died of cholera in London. Since imrovments have been made to make drinking water cleaner cholera has almost disappeared in Europe. | |
| Cistercian (Cistercian, Cistercians) | | A Christian order of monks and nuns, founded in 1098. They follow the rules of St Benedict (obedience, poverty and chastity) in a very strict way. They are often referred to as the White Monks because of the robes they wore. As opposed to the Benedictines who wore black robes. | |
| Citadel (Citadel, Citadels) | | A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. | |
| Classical (Classical) | | A type of architecture that is influenced by the architecture of ancient Greece or Rome. | |
| Clerestory (Clerestory, Clerestories) | | An architectural term denoting an upper level of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. The purpose of the clerestory is to give light to the inner space of a large building. | |
| Cloister (cloisters) | | A cloister is an open space surrounded by covered walkways. It comes from the Latin word claustrum which means enclosure. They were an important feature of medieval monasteries. | |
| Clothier (Clothier, Clothiers) | | A person who makes, sells, or deals in clothes or cloth. | |
| Cluniac (Cluniac, Cluniacs) | | The Cluniac order is Benedictine, in that its monks live according to the Rule of St. Benedict. The monks also wear black clothes and are known as Black Monks. The order was formed after Cluny Abbey was founded in the 10th century. The Cluniac way of life emphasizes the celebration of Mass and other services in the most elaborate manner possible. The order is known for its splendor, its richly decorated churches and its great wealth. | |
| Cob (Cob, Cobb) | | Cob or cobb is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. | |
| Collegiate church (Collegiate church) | | A church served by a body of canons or prebendaries; not housing the throne of a bishop and therefore not a cathedral; served by secular canons rather than monks | |
| Colonnade (Colonnade, Colonnades, Colonnaded) | | A row of evenly spaced columns (pillars). Usually supporting a horizontal piece of stone or other material across the top of them. | |
| Commemorate (Commemorative, Commemoration, Commemorate, Commemorates) | | To honour or keep alive the memory of someone or something. | |
| Conduit (Conduit, Conduits) | | A passage (a pipe or tunnel) through which water or electric wires can pass. | |
| Confiscate (Confiscate, Confiscated) | | To take (seize) something usually as a punishment. | |
| Congregational (Congregational) | | A type of Christian Protestant church where the members of each church (the congregation) are responsible for running their own church. See Nonconformist. | |
| Consecrate (Consecrate, Consecrates, Consecrated) | | To make/declare something or someone sacred or holy. | |
| Convalesce (Convalesce, Convalescence, Convalescent) | | To convalesce is to gradually return to health after illness, injury or an operation. The period during which this recovery happens is known as convalescence. The sick person is a convalescent. | |
| Corinthian (Corinthian) | | The most ornate of the three main classical orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian). It is characterised by a slender column with leaf shaped carvings at the top. | |
| Corporation (Corporation, Corporations) | | The Corporation were a group of people authorised by law to act as an individual. It had its own powers, duties and responsibilities. Many town Corporations were later replaced by Local Authorities or County Councils. | |
| Crenellation (Battlement, Battlements, Crenellate, Crenellations) | | A defensive wall built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows (or later guns) through. These are also called battlements. | |
| Cropmark (Cropmark, Cropmarks) | | Cropmarks are light and dark markings that show up in growing and ripening crops. They are most easily seen by looking at aerial photography. Crops growing above a feature such as a stone wall will grow less well. Crops growing above a feature such as a ditch or hole that has filled up with rich top soil will grow much better. This difference in growth shows up the shape of features from the air. | |
| Cruck (Cruck, Crucks) | | A cruck is a frame formed by two timbers. These are usually curved and set up as an arch or inverted V (/\). Each half of the cruck is called a blade. The pair of timbers are often cut from the same tree (a curved trunk sliced in half). | |
| Cupola (Cupola, Cupolas) | | A small dome on top of a larger dome, roof, or turret. | |
| Cursus (Cursus) | | A linear earthwork dating from prehistoric times. Their purpose is unclear but they are believed to have been processional ways leading to sacred sites such as Stonehenge. | |