Turned
unto others
Why most traditional parsonages
are now called 'The Old Rectory'
For hundreds of years, the provision and maintenance of
Church of England parsonages (the preferred collective
term) was the responsibility of the Incumbent, i.e., in
most cases, the parish priest. Historically – and
especially in the economically heady Georgian and Victorian
times – this had not been a problem. A typical parish
would benefit from generous endowments, most notably from
its wealthiest local landowner, the occupant of the Manor
House. Thus the parsonage was often the second best house
in a traditional Church of England parish, with it and
the Manor House sitting either side of the church, vying
for the attention of the Almighty. Large and doubtless
daunting to an ordinary parishioner, such a home symbolised
the importance of the Church to the community and the
status of the priest within it.
As in so many other fields, the First World War changed
– or brought to a head – almost everything.
Throughout the Victorian age, inflation had been almost
non-existent (prices fell by 22% over its 82 year
entirety), hence endowments, both to parish and priest,
tended to be fixed. But from 1915 to 1920 inclusive, inflation
averaged over 17% pa, severely eroding the value of fixed
incomes. Nor could the traditional benefactors, the landowners,
help: agriculture missed out on the ‘roaring’
element of 1920s, seeing only recession throughout it
and the following decade. Like the landowners, ordinary
parishioners, too, were fewer in number and poorer. Worse,
the War had, in the eyes of many, prompted a crisis of
faith, initiating a decline in church attendance and in
the communitarian role of the Church that continues to
this day. Thus began a lengthy period during which thousands
of parsonages were poorly maintained. By the 1960s, some
were literally uninhabitable.
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The Church of England, faced with increasing
liabilities and changing social attitudes, began a process
of replacing its old parsonages with smaller, more economic
houses, also regarded by some as more socially acceptable.
Sometimes this involved demolition and rebuilding, but
sale and replacement was the norm and, especially after
responsibility for maintenance was passed to the dioceses
in 1972, the number of sales grew to hundreds each year.
In all, it is likely that as many as 12,000 former parsonages
might have been sold though, as information is not held
centrally, hard facts are difficult to come by. The Church
Commissioners’ Pastoral Division (which has responsibility
for parsonage matters) has indicated, however, that it
believes that very few of the present 9,000 incumbents
have a parsonage that might be considered ‘unsuitable’.
In most cases, this means a pre- 20th century house of
more that 190 sq.m (2,050 sq.ft). A handful of these are
sold each year, but sales now only arise when an incumbent
moves and when the further contraction of congregations
prompts the combining of parishes.
There are those – notably members of the pressure
group Save Our Parsonages (www.saveourparsonages.co.uk)
– who regret the “privatisation” of our
grand former rectories and vicarages, arguing that their
sale has exacerbated the Church’s drift from the
centre of the community and deprived parishioners of what,
not infrequently, was a parish resource. This may be true
but at least, in private hands, these impressive, often
beautiful properties have been restored. If we bear any
collective responsibility at all for our built heritage,
this fact might just count towards our being considered
‘good stewards’.
FORMER PARSONAGES ALL...
Top: Hampshire, £2.1 million guide
Above: Gloucestershire, £2.85 million guide
Left: Devon, £565,000 guide
Below left: Norfolk, £765,000 guide
Below: Chester, £1 million guide
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