Talk:Aisleless church

Term "aisleless"
The term "aisleless" is confusing. What is meant is apparently "without side aisles". Most churches have at least a center aisle to provide access to the pews. Jmar67 (talk) 12:56, 25 September 2018 (UTC)


 * The term "aisle" in this context is specifically church architecture, where it means "a passageway to either side of the nave that is separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns" (from aisle). That is, it's a physical characteristic of the fabric of the building. It doesn't mean "a space for walking with rows of seats" (from the top of same article). As the article explicitly says what an aisle is, I don't know how much clearer it could be. I've changed the aisle link to link to the specific section of that page, but that just repeats what's already clearly stated in the article. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 13:08, 25 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I had started to update the link myself. The reader does not expect to encounter a familiar term used with a special meaning. I would like to see a note somewhere that "aisleless" does not preclude a center aisle. Not sure how to do that at the moment. Jmar67 (talk) 13:38, 25 September 2018 (UTC)


 * I think we're a bit stuck. Usually when a word has multiple meanings, people are at least kind enough to use only one meaning in any given context. But this is an odd case where both meanings are in use, potentially in the same building, at the same time. I see the nave article uses the term "side-aisle", but I rather think that's an invention made to get encyclopedia authors out of a jam. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 13:47, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

I tried to search the scholarly literature: "(1) the rare basilican plan; (2) the "Kentish" plan of aisleless nave with apsidal chancel; (3) the plan of aisleless nave with rectangular chancel." (Thompson, A. H.: The ground plan of the English parish church. Cambridge, 1913). Thompson clearly does not use the term "aisles" for a central passageway, and use "aisled church" for ground plans with 3 parallel sections. In Norwegian the nave is called skip ("ship") and aisles sideskip ("ships on the side"), the transept is tverrskip ("cross ship" in cruciform churches). In Norway ordinary (aisleless) churches are called long churches, churches with aisles are basilicas or treskipet ("three ship church"). — Erik Jr. 18:39, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Parsons writes: "The excavator's reconstruction of this building as a long, narrow, aisleless nave with a narrower, possibly square, chancel invites comparison with Anglo-Saxon churches of the Escomb type." (Parsons, D. (1999). Some churches of the Anglo‐Saxon missionaries in southern Germany: a review of the evidence. Early Medieval Europe, 8(1), 31-67.)— Erik Jr. 18:49, 26 September 2018 (UTC)