What is a lectern fall?
A lectern is a bookstand to support books used during services. The name comes from the Latin lectus, past participle of legere, “to read”. Medieval lecterns were of stone and on the north of the altar for the Gospel. In time there was sometimes more than one for different purposes. After the reformation readings desks were introduced as happened in Gillingham. From the 1840s separate lecterns were re-introduced and that is what happened in Gillingham. It was not part of the 1830s rebuild, but a separate eagle lectern was given along with the pulpit in memory of the Rev. Henry Deane, instigator of the rebuild.
