footpace

[ foo t-peys ]

/ ˈfʊtˌpeɪs /

walking pace.

a raised portion of a floor; platform.

a landing or resting place at the end of a short flight of steps.

Origin of footpace

First recorded in 1530–40; foot + pace¹

The footpace is not carried round the altar, so that it can only be approached from the front.

Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages |George Edmund Street
The altar, where a weekly requiem had been said for them, was gone, and the footpace and piscina alone showed where it had stood.

By What Authority? |Robert Hugh Benson
As luck would have it, we presently came upon a hill that had to be climbed, and my courser dropped to a footpace.

South America To-day |Georges Clemenceau
The villager suggested his farm horse, on condition that they should ride him at a footpace.

Sister Anne (Novels of Paul de Kock, Volume X) |Charles Paul de Kock

The scamel is simply the footpace of the altar on which she has been set.

Selections from Early Middle English 1130-1250: Part II: Notes |Various

footpace

/ (ˈfʊtˌpeɪs) /

a normal or walking pace

Also called (in the Roman Catholic Church): predella the platform immediately before an altar at the top of the altar steps