porticus

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{{Short description|Architectural element}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}

{{hatnote|This article concerns the ecclesiastical architectural term. For other uses, see portico.}}

File:Plan of St Mary's Church, Reculver.jpg, in north-east Kent, the porticus of the 7th-century church are represented by the extensions to north and south from the main structure, which is in yellow. Other colours represent later additions.]]

In church architecture, a porticus (Latin for "portico"){{efn|Most Latin terms ending in {{lang|la|-us}} are masculine and form their nominative plural with {{lang|la|-i}} but {{lang|la|porticus}} is a feminine fourth-declension noun whose plural is also {{lang|la|porticus}}, sometimes differentiated with a macron as {{lang|la|porticūs}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dporticus |editor1-last=Lewis |editor1-first=C.T. |editor2-last=Short |editor2-first=C. |work=A Latin Dictionary |title=porticus |publisher=www.perseus.tufts.edu |date=n.d. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131221317/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dporticus |archivedate=31 January 2016 |url-status=live |accessdate=6 September 2018 |df=dmy-all}} The English plural form is porticuses, when the term is not simply translated as portico.}} is usually a small room in a church.{{cite web|url=http://www.digital-documents.co.uk/archi/gloschur.htm |title=Glossary of ecclesiastical terms |publisher=Archi UK |year=n.d. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629130240/http://www.digital-documents.co.uk/archi/gloschur.htm |archivedate=29 June 2016 |url-status=live |accessdate=28 January 2017|df=dmy}} Commonly, porticuses form extensions to the north and south sides of a church, giving the building a cruciform plan. They may function as chapels, rudimentary transepts or burial-places. For example, Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent were buried in the south porticus at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, with the exception of Eadberht II, who was buried in a similar location in St Mary's Church, Reculver.{{sfn|Kelly|2008|pp=78–9}}

This feature of church design originated in the late Roman period and continued to appear in those built on the European continent and, in Anglo-Saxon England, until the 8th century.{{sfn|Cherry|1981|p=168}}