Pulpit. A wooden box, usually on the north side of the east end of the nave, from which sermons are preached. They are generally seen as typical of the post-Reformation church; in fact, churches before the Reformation also had pulpits. Most of East Anglia's pulpits are 19th century, but there are many fine examples of 17th and 18th century work. Some of the most interesting pulpits are the 2-decker and 3-decker ones, which include a reader's platform and a clerk's desk below the preaching platform.

The pulpit was the focus of Anglican worship, rather than the altar, for most of the 300 years between the Reformation in the mid-16th century and the coming of the Oxford Movement in the mid-19th century.

Generally, Catholic churches do not have pulpits.