Provinces of Ireland
Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces, Leinster and Ulster. The provinces of Ireland serve no administrative or political purposes, a king of over-kings, a rí ruirech was often a provincial or semi-provincial king to whom several ruiri were subordinate. Entities belonging to the 1st and 2nd millennia are listed and these do not all belong to the same periods. Over the centuries, the number of provincial kings varied between three and six, no more than six genuine rí ruirech were ever contemporary, with the average being three or four. Also, following the Norman invasion, the situation became more condensed and complicated than previously. The Norman invasion began in 1169, and the Normans went on to occupy Ireland until 1541, in the early Irish annals these five ancient political divisions were referred to as cúigí such as the fifth of Munster, the fifth of Ulster and so on. Later record-makers dubbed them provinces, in imitation of the Roman imperial provinciae, in modern times they have become associated with groups of counties, although they have no legal status.
The provinces were supplanted by the present system of counties after the Norman invasion, during the Tudor conquest, and for about a century after, provincial Presidencies existed in Connacht and Munster, serving a primarily military role. Six of the nine Ulster counties form modern-day Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is sometimes called a province of the United Kingdom. These two inconsistent usages of the province can cause confusion. This dinnseanchas poem named Ard Ruide poetically describes the kingdoms of Ireland, Munster in the south is the kingdom of music and the arts, of harpers, of skilled ficheall players and of skilled horsemen. The fairs of Munster were the greatest in all Ireland, the last kingdom, Meath, is the kingdom of Kingship, of stewardship, of bounty in government, in Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the High King of Ireland. The ancient earthwork of Tara is called Rath na Ríthe
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide and Leinster, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties, Leinster has no official function for local-government purposes. However, the province is an officially recognised subdivision of Ireland and it is listed on ISO 3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland and IE-L is attributed to Leinster as its country sub-division code. Leinster had a population of 2,630,720 according to the results of the 2016 census. The traditional flag of Leinster features a harp on a green background. The first part of the name Leinster derives from Laigin, the name of a tribe that once inhabited the area. The latter part of the name either from the Irish tír or from the Old Norse staðr. Úgaine Mór, who built the hill-fort of Dún Ailinne, near Kilcullen in County Kildare.
He is a likely, but uncertain candidate as the first historical king of Laigin in the 7th century BC, circa 175/185 AD, following a period of civil wars in Ireland, the legendary Cathair Mor re-founded the kingdom of Laigin. The legendary Finn Mac Cool, or Fionn mac Cumhaill, reputedly built a stronghold at the Hill of Allen, on the edge of the Bog of Allen, in Wales some of the Leinster-Irish colonists left their name on the Llŷn Peninsula, which derives its name from Laigin. In the 5th century the emerging Uí Néill dynasties from Connacht conquered areas of Westmeath and Offaly from the Uí Enechglaiss, Uí Néill Ard Righ attempted to exact the Boroimhe Laighean from the Laigin from that time, in the process becoming their traditional enemies. This southern dynasty provided all the Kings of Leinster, the ancient Kingdom of Mide today encompasses much of counties Meath and Westmeath with five west County Offaly baronies. The Offaly parishes of Annally and Lusmagh were formerly part of Connacht while the baronies of Ballybritt, County Louth was formerly part of Ulster.
The last major changes occurred with the formation of County Wicklow, from lands in the north of Carlow. The provincial borders were redrawn by Cromwell for administration and military reasons, minor changes dealt with islands of one county in another. By the late 1700s, Leinster looked as shown in the map of 1784. Leinster represents the extended English Pale, counties controlled directly from Dublin, gradually Leinster subsumed the term of The Pale, as the difference between the old Pale area and the wider province, now under English administration, grew less distinct
Trout
Trout is the common name for a number of species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera Oncorhynchus and Salvelinus, all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word trout is used as part of the name of some fish such as Cynoscion nebulosus. Trout are closely related to salmon and char, species termed salmon, a rainbow trout that spends time in the ocean is called a steelhead. Arctic char and brook trout are part of the char family, Trout are an important food source for humans and wildlife including brown bears, birds of prey such as eagles, and other animals. They are classified as oily fish, these colors and patterns form as camouflage, based on the surroundings, and will change as the fish moves to different habitats. In general trout that are about to breed have extremely intense coloration and they can look like an entirely different fish outside of spawning season. It is virtually impossible to define a color pattern as belonging to a specific breed, however, in general, wild fish are claimed to have more vivid colors.
Trout have fins entirely without spines, and all of them have an adipose fin along the back. The pelvic fins sit well back on the body, on side of the anus. The swim bladder is connected to the esophagus, allowing for gulping or rapid expulsion of air, unlike many other physostome fish, trout do not use their bladder as an auxiliary device for oxygen uptake, relying solely on their gills. There are many species, and even more populations, that are isolated from each other, the trout found in the eastern United States are a good example of this. Lake trout, like brook trout, belong to the char genus, Lake trout inhabit many of the larger lakes in North America, and live much longer than rainbow trout, which have an average maximum lifespan of 7 years. Lake trout can live many decades, and can grow to more than 30 kilograms, Trout are usually found in cool, clear streams and lakes, although many of the species have anadromous strains as well. Young trout are referred to as troutlet, troutling or fry and they are distributed naturally throughout North America, northern Asia and Europe.
Several species of trout were introduced to Australia and New Zealand by amateur fishing enthusiasts in the 19th century, the introduced species included brown trout from England and rainbow trout from California. The rainbow trout were a strain, generally accepted as coming from Sonoma Creek. The rainbow trout of New Zealand still show the tendency to run up rivers in winter to spawn. In Australia the rainbow trout was introduced in 1894 from New Zealand and is a popular gamefish in recreational angling
Environmental sculpture
Environmental sculpture is sculpture that creates or alters the environment for the viewer, as opposed to presenting itself figurally or monumentally before the viewer. A frequent trait of larger environmental sculptures is one can actually enter or pass through the sculpture. Also, in the spirit, it may be designed to generate shadows or reflections. Julia M. Ukrainian-born American sculptor Louise Nevelson is a pioneer of environmental sculpture in this sense, busch places the sculptures of Jane Frank, as well as some works by Tony Smith and David Smith, in this category. Some environmental sculpture so encompasses the observer that it verges on architecture, george Segal, Duane Hanson, Edward Kienholz, Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer are well known practitioners of the genre, although Segal and Hansons work is figural. A well known instance of this is the pair of Segal figures that sit on and stand next to one of the benches in New York Citys Sheridan Square. A less known but more appropriate example is Athena Tachas 2-acre park Connections in downtown Philadelphia and it was the first park designed entirely by an artist sculpting the land with planted terraces, rock clusters and paths. A second sense of the environmental sculpture, with a somewhat different emphasis, is sculpture created for a particular set of surroundings.
Thus, contemporary sculptor Beth Galston writes, An environmental sculptor plans a piece from the beginning in relationship to its surroundings. The site is a catalyst, becoming part of the creative process and this is quite different from a Nevelson sculpture, which can usually be moved from place to place, like a conventional sculpture, without losing its meaning and effectiveness. By Galstons definition, a sculpture is not merely site-specific art as many conventional, figurative. Many of the large, site-specific, minimalist sculptures of Richard Serra qualify as environmental sculpture, much of what is called land art or earth art could be termed environmental sculpture under this definition. Andrew Rogers and Alan Sonfist are among notable current practitioners of land art, since the mid-seventies, French artist Jean-Max Albert worked with trellis structures, deconstructing and re-arranging the elements of surrounding architecture. Louise Nevelson, for instance is a pioneer American environmental artist with sources disagreeing on classifying her work as environmental sculpture
Gaelic football
Gaelic football, commonly referred to as football or Gaelic, is an Irish team sport. It is played two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the teams goals or between two upright posts above the goals and over a crossbar 2.5 metres above the ground. Players advance the football, a leather ball, up the field with a combination of carrying, kicking, hand-passing. In the game, two types of scores are possible and goals, a point is awarded for kicking or hand-passing the ball over the crossbar, signalled by the umpire raising a white flag. A goal is awarded for kicking the ball under the crossbar into the net, positions in Gaelic football are similar to that in other football codes, and comprise one goalkeeper, six backs, two midfielders, and six forwards, with a variable number of substitutes. Gaelic football is one of four sports controlled by the Gaelic Athletic Association, along with hurling and camogie, Gaelic football is one of the few remaining strictly amateur sports in the world, with players and managers prohibited from receiving any form of payment.
Gaelic football is played on the island of Ireland, although units of the Association exist in other areas such as Great Britain, North America. Outside Ireland, football is played among members of the Irish diaspora. Gaelic Park in New York City is the largest purpose-built Gaelic sports venue outside Ireland, the All-Ireland Senior Championship is considered the most prestigious event in Gaelic football. Under the auspices of the GAA, Gaelic football is a sport, however. Gaelic football was first codified in 1887, although it has purported links to varieties of football played in Ireland. Consequently, the name caid is used by people to refer to present day Gaelic football. Dublin is still known as the football field, the Statute of Galway of 1527 allowed the playing of foot balle and archery but banned hokie—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves as well as other sports. By the 17th century, the situation had changed considerably, the games had grown in popularity and were widely played.
This was due to the patronage of the gentry, now instead of opposing the games it was the gentry and the ruling class who were serving as patrons of the games. Games were organised between landlords with each team comprising 20 or more tenants, wagers were commonplace with purses of up to 100 guineas. The earliest record of a precursor to the modern game date from a match in County Meath in 1670
Counties of Ireland
The counties of Ireland are sub-national divisions that have been, and in some cases continue to be, used to geographically demarcate areas of local government. These land divisions were formed following the Norman invasion of Ireland in imitation of the in use as units of local government in the Kingdom of England. The older term shire was historically equivalent to county, the principal function of the county was to impose royal control in the areas of taxation and the administration of justice at the local level. Cambro-Norman control was limited to the southeastern parts of Ireland. The powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English nobility waned over time, new offices of political control came to be established at a county level. In the Republic of Ireland, some counties have been resulting in the creation of new counties. Along with certain defined cities, counties form the basis for the demarcation of areas of local government in the Republic of Ireland. Currently, there are 26 county level,3 city level and 2 city and county entities – the modern equivalent of counties corporate – that are used to demarcate areas of government in the Republic.
In Northern Ireland, counties are no longer used for local government, upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, the county became one of the basic land divisions employed, along with county boroughs. The word county has come to be used in different senses for different purposes, in common usage, many people have in mind the 32 counties that existed prior to 1838 – the so-called traditional counties. However, in usage in the Republic of Ireland, the term often refers to the 28 modern counties. The term is conflated with the 31 areas currently used to demarcate areas of government in the Republic of Ireland at the level of LAU1. In Ireland, usage of the county nearly always comes before rather than after the county name, thus County Roscommon in Ireland as opposed to Roscommon County in Michigan. The former Kings County and Queens County were exceptions, these are now County Offaly and County Laois, the abbreviation Co. is used, as in Co. There appears to be no official guidance in the matter, as even the local council uses all three forms, the synonym shire is not used for Irish counties, although the Marquessate of Downshire was named in 1789 after County Down.
Parts of some towns and cities were exempt from the jurisdiction of the counties that surrounded them and these towns and cities had the status of a County corporate, many granted by Royal Charter, which had all the judicial and revenue raising powers of the regular counties. The political geography of Ireland can be traced with accuracy from the 6th century. At that time Ireland was divided into a patchwork of petty kingdoms with a political hierarchy which
Republic of Ireland
Ireland, known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth.
The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland.
The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
Tullamore
Tullamore is a town in County Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland. It is Offalys county town and is located in the centre of the county, Tullamore was designated a gateway town, along with Mullingar and Athlone, in late 2003 by the Irish Government, making it eligible for increased infrastructural investment. The town retained Gold Medal status in the National Tidy Town Awards in 2015, the Tullamore Show is held near the town every year. The towns most famous export is Tullamore Dew – an Irish whiskey distilled by Tullamore Distillery – that can be traced back to 1829, the original distillery shut down in the 1954, with the brand being resurrected and produced at the Midleton Distillery, in Cork. However, the new owners, William Grant & Sons, invested in a new distillery near Tullamore. In ancient Gaelic Ireland, Tullamore was located in what was known as the landfill territory of Firceall ruled by the OMolloy clan. Firceall was part of the ancient Kingdom of Meath, following the plantation of Offaly in the 16th and 17th centuries, Firceall was divided into the baronies of Ballycowan and Eglish, with Tullamore located in Ballycowan.
Tullamore was part of the first English plantation of Offaly in the 1570s, by the mid-1500s the lands that were originally ruled by the OMolloy clan were securely planted and in the hands of the Moore family. From this point on a dynasty was established which endured into the nineteenth century, commencing with the grant of the Tullamore area, comprising some 5000 acres. At that time the Tullamore estate included a castle, ten cottages. Sir Robert Forth, who leased the lands from Thomas Moore, Charles Moore, Lord Tullamore, grandson of Thomas, eventually regained possession of the estate and when he died in 1674 it went via his sister to Charles William Bury. Charles William was created the 1st Earl of Charleville in a creation of the title. To this day, the shield depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes. The event is commemorated by the Phoenix festival which celebrates Tullamores resurrection from the ashes following the accident. The Grand Canal linked Tullamore to Dublin in 1798, during the Napoleonic Wars, a clash between troops of the Kings German Legion and a regiment of British Light Infantry who were both stationed in the town, became known as the Battle of Tullamore.
Tullamore became county town of County Offaly in 1835, replacing Daingean, Tullamore has a long history of whiskey distilling, with two distilleries known to have operated in the two in the 1780s, though closed some years later. Subsequently, a new distillery, was established by Michael Molloy, when Molloy died, the distillery first passed to his brother Anthony, before eventually making its way into the hands of his nephew, Bernard Daly. When Daly died, his son, Captain Bernard Daly took ownership of the business, Williams brought electricity to Tullamore in 1893
County Clare
County Clare is a county in Ireland, in the Mid-West Region and the province of Munster. Clare County Council is the local authority, the county had a population of 117,196 at the 2011 census. Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering an area of 3,400 square kilometres. Clare was founded by the noble Luke Fitzgerald, A knight of Internal Audit, Clare is the 7th largest of Irelands 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. It is bordered by two counties in Munster and one county in Connacht, County Limerick to the south, County Tipperary to the east, clares nickname is the Banner County. The county is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Clonderalaw, Ibrickan, Islands, Tulla Lower and these in turn are divided into civil parishes, which are divided into townlands. These divisions are cadastral, defining land boundaries and ownership, rather than administrative, bodies of water define much of the physical boundaries of Clare. To the southeast is the River Shannon, Irelands longest river, the border to the northeast is defined by Lough Derg which is the third largest lake on Ireland.
To the west is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north is Galway Bay, County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna. At the western edge of The Burren, facing the Atlantic Ocean, are the Cliffs of Moher, the highest point in County Clare is Moylussa,532 m, in the Slieve Bernagh range in the east of the county. Clare is one of the richest places for these tombs in Ireland, the most noted one is in The Burren area, it is known as Poulnabrone dolmen which translates to hole of sorrows. The remains of the people inside the tomb have been excavated and dated to 3800 BC, Ptolemy created a map of Ireland in his Geographia with information dating from 100 AD, it is the oldest written account of the island with geographical features. Within his map Ptolemy names the Gaelic tribes inhabiting it and the areas in which they resided and it was renamed Thomond, meaning North Munster and spawned Brian Boru during this period, perhaps the most noted High King of Ireland.
From 1118 onwards the Kingdom of Thomond was in place as its own petty kingdom, after the Norman invasion of Ireland, Thomas de Clare established a short-lived Norman lordship of Thomond, extinguished at the Battle of Dysert ODea in 1318 during Edward Bruces invasion. There are two hypotheses for the origins of the county name Clare. One hypothesis is that the name is derived from Thomas_de_Clare, _Lord_of_Thomond who was embroiled in local politics. An alternative hypothesis is that the county name Clare comes from the settlement of Clare whose Irish name Clár refers to a crossing over the River Fergus. In 1543, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, Murrough OBrien by surrender, Henry Sidney as Lord Deputy of Ireland responded the Desmond Rebellion by creating the presidency of Connaught in 1569 and presidency of Munster in 1570
Sacred Heart
The devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus Christs physical heart as the representation of His divine love for humanity. This devotion is predominantly used in the Roman Catholic Church and among some high-church Anglicans and Lutherans, the devotion is especially concerned with what the Church deems to be the love and compassion of the heart of Christ towards humanity, and its long suffering. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism. The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross. Sometimes the image is shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart, the wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus death, while the fire represents the transformative power of divine love.
Historically the devotion to the Sacred Heart is an outgrowth of devotion to what is believed to be Christs sacred humanity, there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart developed out of the devotion to the Holy Wounds, the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Saint Bernard said that the piercing of Christs side revealed his goodness, the earliest known hymn to the Sacred Heart, Summi Regis Cor Aveto is believed to have been written by the Norbertine, Blessed Herman Joseph of Cologne, Germany. This hymn begins, I hail Thee kingly Heart most high, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans, among the Franciscans the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its champions in Saint Bonaventure in his Vitis Mystica, B.
John de la Verna and the Franciscan Tertiary Saint Jean Eudes, Bonaventure wrote, Who is there who would not love this wounded heart. Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much. ”It was, nevertheless, in the sixteenth century, the devotion passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. The historical record from that shows an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus, the first to establish the theological basis for the devotion was Polish Jesuit Kasper Drużbicki in his book Meta cordium - Cor Jesu. Not much Jean Eudes wrote an Office, and promoted a feast for it, père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary, but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the two Hearts became distinct, and on August 31,1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on October 20, a day with which the Eudist feast was from on to be connected, the feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities.
It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun by Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial, according to Thomas Merton, Saint Lutgarde, a Cistercian mystic of Aywieres, Belgium was one of the great precursors of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight, black residue, consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis- the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen, the whole pile is covered with turf or moistened clay. The firing is begun at the bottom of the flue, the success of the operation depends upon the rate of the combustion. The operation is so delicate that it was left to colliers. They often lived alone in small huts in order to tend their wood piles, for example, in the Harz Mountains of Germany, charcoal burners lived in conical huts called Köten which are still much in evidence today. The massive production of charcoal was a cause of deforestation. The increasing scarcity of easily harvested wood was a factor behind the switch to fossil fuel equivalents, mainly coal. Charcoal made at 300 °C is brown and friable, and readily inflames at 380 °C, made at higher temperatures it is hard and brittle, in Finland and Scandinavia, the charcoal was considered the by-product of wood tar production.
The best tar came from pine, thus pinewoods were cut down for tar pyrolysis, the residual charcoal was widely used as substitute for metallurgical coke in blast furnaces for smelting. Tar production led to deforestation, it has been estimated all Finnish forests are younger than 300 years. The end of tar production at the end of the 19th century resulted in rapid re-forestation, the charcoal briquette was first invented and patented by Ellsworth B. A. Zwoyer of Pennsylvania in 1897 and was produced by the Zwoyer Fuel Company. The process was popularized by Henry Ford, who used wood. Ford Charcoal went on to become the Kingsford Company, Charcoal has been made by various methods. The traditional method in Britain used a clamp and this is essentially a pile of wooden logs leaning against a chimney. The chimney consists of 4 wooden stakes held up by some rope, the logs are completely covered with soil and straw allowing no air to enter. It must be lit by introducing some burning fuel into the chimney, if the soil covering gets torn by the fire, additional soil is placed on the cracks.
Once the burn is complete, the chimney is plugged to prevent air from entering, the true art of this production method is in managing the sufficient generation of heat, and its transfer to wood parts in the process of being carbonised. A strong disadvantage of this method is the huge amount of emissions that are harmful to human health
Pulpit
Pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum, the traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a known as the sounding board or abat-voix above and sometimes behind the speaker. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his or her bible, notes or texts upon. The pulpit is generally reserved for clergy and this is mandated in the regulations of the Roman Catholic church, and several others. Even in Welsh Nonconformism, this was appropriate, and in some chapels a second pulpit was built opposite the main one for lay exhortations, testimonials. Many churches have a second, smaller stand called the lectern, which can be used by lay persons, equivalent platforms for speakers are the bema of Ancient Greece and Jewish synagogues, and the minbar of Islamic mosques.
From the pulpit is often used metaphorically for something which is said with official church authority, in many Christian churches, there are two speakers stands at the front of the church. Often, the one on the left is called the pulpit, since the Gospel lesson is often read from the pulpit, the pulpit side of the church is sometimes called the gospel side. In both Catholic and Protestant churches the pulpit may be located closer to the congregation in the nave, either on the nave side of the crossing. This is especially the case in churches, to ensure the preacher can be heard by all the congregation. Fixed seating for the congregation came relatively late in the history of church architecture, fixed seating facing forward in the nave and modern electric amplification has tended to reduce the use of pulpits in the middle of the nave. Outdoor pulpits, usually attached to the exterior of the church, if attached to the outside wall of a church, these may be entered from a doorway in the wall, or by steps outside.
The other speakers stand, usually on the right, is known as the lectern, the word lectern comes from the Latin word lectus, past participle of legere, meaning to read, because the lectern primarily functions as a reading stand. It is typically used by lay people to read the lessons, to lead the congregation in prayer. Because the epistle lesson is read from the lectern, the lectern side of the church is sometimes called the epistle side. In other churches, the lectern, from which the Epistle is read, is located to the congregations left, though unusual, movable pulpits with wheels were found in English churches. A portable outside pulpit of wood and canvas was used by John Wesley, modern synagougue bemas are often similar in form to centrally-placed pulpits in Evangelical churches
