Various patterns in part of church (8)
I believe the answer is:
transept
'part of church' is the definition.
(I know that transept is part of church)
'various patterns' is the wordplay.
'various' indicates anagramming the letters.
'patterns' with letters rearranged gives 'TRANSEPT'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for transept that I've seen before include "Patterns found in parts of church" , "always running north to south" , "It crosses the nave in church" , "Part of church intersecting nave" , "Part of church off aisle" .)