Illustrated Dictionary of British Churches - Gargoyle Definition

• Aisle
• Altar
• Ambulatory
• Angel Roof
• Apophyge
• Apse
• Arcade
• Arch
• Archivolt
• Base
• Battlement
• Bay
• Belfry
• Bell Tower
• Bellcote
• Bench End
• Board Bell Turret
• Body
• Boss
• Box pew
• Bracket
• Broach Spire
• Buttress
• Canopy
• Capital
• Cartouche
• Chancel
• Chancel Arch
• Chancel Screen
• Chantry
• Chapel
• Chapter House
• Choir
• Clerestory
• Cloister
• Communion Rail
• Compound Column
• Consecration Cross
• Corbel Head
• Crossing
• Crypt
• Early English
• Easter Sepulchre
• Effigy
• Fan Vaulting
• Font
• Font cover
• Funerary Helm
• Gallery
• Gargoyle
• Gothic
• Green Man
• Grotesque
• Hatchment
• Herringbone
• Hogback Tomb
• Holy Water Stoup
• Hunky Punk
• Jesse Window
• Kempe Window
• Lady Chapel
• Lancet
• Lectern
• Lierne
• Lych Gate
• Misericord
• Monumental Brass
• Mullion
• Nave
• Ogee
• Organ
• Parclose Screen
• Parish Chest
• Pendant
• Perpendicular Gothic
• Pew
• Pinnacle
• Piscina
• Poor Box
• Poppy Head
• Porch
• Priest's Door
• Pulpit
• Purbeck Marble
• Quire
• Rebus
• Reliquary
• Reredos
• Retable
• Romanesque
• Rood
• Rood Loft
• Rood screen
• Rood Stair
• Rose Window
• Round Tower
• Sanctuary
• Sanctuary Knocker
• Saxon Period
• Scratch Dial
• Sedilia
• Spire
• Statue Niche
• Stoup
• Tomb Recess
• Tracery
• Transept
• Triforium
• Tympanum
• Undercroft
• Vaulting
• Victorian Gothic
• Wall Monument
• Wall Painting
• Wheel Window

A gargoyle is a carved figure used to oranament a drainpipe or spout carrying water away from a church roof or tower. The term is sometimes used to refer to any carved mythical beast on a church, but technically a gargoyle was a specific kind of carved figure used on drainspouts. To be pedantic, a figure used for purely ornamental purposes is a grotesque rather than a gargoyle. Gargoyles often depict mythological beasts, frequently with terrifying or humourous expressions.

Similar terms: grotesque, hunky punk

Related: Grotesque   Hunky Punk