Vault artist raised over church (4)
I believe the answer is:
arch
'vault' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'artist raised over church' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'raised' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'over' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'ra' written backwards gives 'ar'.
'ar'+'ch'='ARCH'
(Other definitions for arch that I've seen before include "crook" , "Prefix meaning cheif, perhaps enemy" , "Curved overhead structure" , "Cunning; playful" , "Curve of a bridge" .)