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The parson's freehold refers to a system within the Church of England in which the rector or vicar of a parish holds title to benefice property, such as the church, churchyard or parsonage, the ownership passing to his successor. This system is to be phased out, under the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Measure.
The parson's freehold is a type of benefice; originally also it established income from and tenancy of certain properties in recompense for the priest's exercise of ecclesiastical offices. These would have included occupancy of the rectory (and its outbuildings), fees and Easter offerings, income from tithes (received in the form of a tax on properties within the parish bounds), and income from the glebe (parcels which could be farmed for the rector's profit). These formed the basis for the rector's income, out of which he lived, and kept the Church. Communion alms met some of the needs of the poor. Often the patron or another landowner would take the lead in repairs and extensions of the church; sometimes the rector or vicar did so himself. For the purposes of law the rector owns the remaining property as a corporation sole. However, unlike usual fee simple ownership, the property did not pass to his heir upon his death. Instead, it passed to the next officeholder.
Canon law for benefices can be traced back to the councils of First and Second Councils of Orléans in 511 and 533, and Lyons in 566. The councils established the principle of grants of property to clergymen which were dependent upon the holding of particular offices. These principles were retained in the Church of England and were codified so that such a position was vacated only on
Plural occupancy was gradually restricted due to abuses by non-resident officeholders delegating priestly duties to assistants.
The difficulty of removing the beneficiary of such a freehold was a source of continued conflict. In practice only "open and notorious evil living" sufficed to remove an incumbent unwillingly. Conflict over tithes in particular led to the fixing of tithes under the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, and their abolition in 1935. Increasingly rectors and vicars are not appointed, the right under which the patron makes a presentation of the living to his chosen candidate being suspended under section 67 of the pastoral measure 1983, and perhaps 3,500 clergy are consequently merely licensed by the bishop as priests-in-charge; although 5,500 rectors and vicars continue to enjoy freehold, but all are invited to relinquish the freehold and change to "common tenure" (to which all licensed clergy will automatically transfer in 2011). There is no contract, and no employment in any case: freeholders, licensed clergy, and those under common tenure are in law "office-holders".
On February 15, 2005, the General Synod of the Church of England decided to abolish the system of parson's freehold, gradually replacing it with a system entitled common tenure, which would apply to all clerics equally, removing the present distinction between those with freehold and those without. Under common tenure, the present proposal is that parsonages would pass to the diocese. Furthermore, such clergy would undergo assessment procedures to ensure that they are performing their function adequately, and parishioners would have further rights to those enjoyed under the Clergy Discipline Measure to complain about their parish priests. If found unsatisfactory, it would be possible to remove such priests with greater ease. However, priests will be entitled to some modest compensation for loss of office, and gain the right of appeal to secular employment tribunals.
The Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Measure 2009 (No. 1), giving effect to these changes, is now in force.
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A vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior. Linguistically, vicar is cognate with the English prefix "vice", similarly meaning "deputy". The title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts, but also as an administrative title, or title modifier, in the Roman Empire. In addition, in the Holy Roman Empire a local representative of the emperor, perhaps an archduke, might be styled "vicar".
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure (cura) of souls of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term curate is commonly used to describe clergy who are assistants to the parish priest. The duties or office of a curate are called a curacy.
Glebe is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church.
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage.
A benefice or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term beneficium as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by the Western Church in the Carolingian Era as a benefit bestowed by the crown or church officials. A benefice specifically from a church is called a precaria, such as a stipend, and one from a monarch or nobleman is usually called a fief. A benefice is distinct from an allod, in that an allod is property owned outright, not bestowed by a higher authority.
Advowson or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation.
A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term denoting a specific position within Anglicanism, but has some continued historical and colloquial use.
Impropriation, a term from English ecclesiastical law, was the destination of the income from tithes of an ecclesiastical benefice to a layman. With the establishment of the parish system in England, it was necessary for the properties to have an owner. This was the parochianus or parson/rector who was sustained by the benefice income while providing personally for the cure-of-souls. The parson was technically a corporation sole. With the passage of time, the benefice came to be considered a piece of property whose holder could discharge the spiritual responsibilities by a deputy and many were appropriated by monasteries or other spiritual corporations. These were bound to provide for a cleric for the cure of souls in the parish but could use any excess income as they pleased. The deputy was often known as the 'vicar'.
Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on some property owners in England and Wales to pay for certain repairs to a church which may or may not be the local parish church.
In English ecclesiastical law, the term incumbent refers to the holder of a Church of England parochial charge or benefice. The term "benefice" originally denoted a grant of land for life in return for services. In church law, the duties were spiritual ("spiritualities") and some form of assets to generate revenue were permanently linked to the duties to ensure the support of the office holder. Historically, once in possession of the benefice, the holder had lifelong tenure unless he failed to provide the required minimum of spiritual services or committed a moral offence. With the passing of the "Pastoral Measure 1968" and subsequent legislation, this no longer applies, and many ancient benefices have been joined together into a single new one.
A priest in charge or priest-in-charge in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent. Such priests are not legally responsible for the churches and glebe, but simply hold a licence rather than the freehold and are not appointed by advowson.
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.
Thomas Bowles was a Church of England priest. He is notable for a controversy in which he was appointed to two parishes in Wales where hardly any parishioners spoke English, despite the fact that Bowles spoke no Welsh. Bowles was a grandfather of the priest and poet William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850).
Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland. The term is found in common use mainly during the first half of the 19th century. The legal status of perpetual curate originated as an administrative anomaly in the 16th century. Unlike ancient rectories and vicarages, perpetual curacies were supported by a cash stipend, usually maintained by an endowment fund, and had no ancient right to income from tithe or glebe.
Altarage is a term once commonly used in an ecclesiastical context to signify the revenue reserved for the chaplain in contradistinction to the income of the parish priest — it came to indicate the funds received by a priest from the laity when discharging a particular function for them, e.g., marriages, baptisms, and funerals. The term is largely obsolete, having been replaced by the more specific honorarium, stipend, or stole-fee.
"Glebe terrier" is a term specific to the Church of England. It is a document, usually a written survey or inventory, which gives details of glebe, lands and property in the parish owned by the Church of England and held by a clergyman as part of the endowment of his benefice, and which provided the means by which the incumbent could support himself and his church.
St Mary the Virgin is a 13th-century Anglican parish church in Northolt, London Borough of Ealing. It is on a slope shared with Belvue Park, the site of a 15th-century manor house — both overlooked the old village of Northolt. It is one of London's smallest churches, its nave measuring 15 yards (14 m) by 8 yards (7.3 m). The church was built around 1290 and was expanded over the centuries, with the chancel being added in 1521, the spired bell tower in the 16th century, and a gallery at the west end of the church in 1703. Twin buttresses were erected against the west wall around 1718 to alleviate concerns that the church could slip down the hill. The internal beams are original and the bells date from the 17th century. The church was constructed from a variety of materials; the nave incorporates clunch, flint and ironstone, and the mouldings of the doors and windows are made from Reigate Stone.
Vicar is a title given to certain parish priests in the Church of England and other Anglican churches. It has played a significant role in Anglican church organisation in ways that are different from other Christian denominations. The title is very old and arises from the medieval arrangement where priests were appointed either by a secular lord, by a bishop or by a religious foundation. Historically, but no longer, vicars share a benefice with a rector to whom the great tithes were paid. Vicar derives from the Latin vicarius meaning a substitute.
The parish with its parish church(es) is the basic territorial unit of the Church of England. The parish has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church and survived the English Reformation largely untouched. Each is within one of 42 dioceses: divided between the thirty of the Canterbury and the twelve of that of York. There are around 12,500 Church of England parishes. Historically, in England and Wales, the parish was the principal unit of local administration for both church and civil purposes; that changed in the 19th century when separate civil parishes were established. Many Church of England parishes still align, fully or in part, with civil parishes boundaries.
A rector is, in an ecclesiastical sense, a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations. In contrast, a vicar is also a cleric but functions as an assistant and representative of an administrative leader.