Illustrated Dictionary of British Churches - Poor Box Definition
History and Architecture
- 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
Poor Box
Quite literally, a box to receive donations to aid the poor. These might also be called alms boxes, and were generally wooden boxes affixed to a pillar or free-standing atop a wooden or stone pedestal. They were frequently located near the main church door. Most surviving poor boxes date from the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and many have iron strap binding for extra security, and a slot in the box top for coins. Some were later adapted to be simply donation boxes for church expenses.
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Belsay, Northumberland
