An altar is the table or raised structure used for offering, sacrifice or the celebration of the Eucharist, forming the focal point of a church, chapel or temple. In Christian churches the altar stands at the east end of the chancel or sanctuary and may be made of stone, marble or wood.
Medieval English altars were usually of stone, but many were removed during the Reformation and replaced with wooden communion tables, which became the norm in the Church of England. The nineteenth-century Gothic Revival and the Oxford Movement brought renewed emphasis on the altar, with elaborate carved oak, stone and marble examples, often accompanied by reredoses, altar rails, frontals and candlesticks. Catholic churches on the Continent preserved richer traditions of gilded and painted altars. In the antiques and salvage trade, altar tables, frontals, rails, candlesticks, crosses and altarpieces appear with some regularity, particularly from redundant churches. Collectors value fine carving, good timber, original surfaces and documented history. Some buyers adapt altar tables as console or hall tables, though sensitivity to their original purpose is advisable, and consecrated stone altars may carry particular restrictions on removal and sale.
