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The building points east, and that is why 'the east end' means the altar.
Also known as: Why churches face east, East end of a church
Not a carved mark at all, and the piece of information that makes every other one locatable. A traditionally built church is aligned with its altar at the east, which is why descriptions refer to the north aisle and the south porch as though everyone knows which is which.
The reason every architectural description uses compass directions without explaining them. The south side gets the sun and carries the porch, the mass dial and most of the graffiti; the north side is colder, darker and was long associated with burial of the unbaptised.
Held loosely in practice. Sites constrained by ground, road or an earlier building deviate considerably, and a church that does not point east is common enough not to be remarkable.
A convention, not a rule, and never universal.
A long rectangular building on an east–west axis, often with a cross-shaped plan formed by transepts, the altar at the narrow eastern end.