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 (rector, vicar or perpetual curate) could support himself and his church.
Typically, glebe would comprise the vicarage or rectory, fields and the church building itself, its contents and its graveyard.
In those cases where the parsonage was not well-endowed with glebe, the clergyman’s main source of income would come from the tithes.
Glebe terriers are useful historical documents as they may contain the names of tenants and the holders of adjoining lands.
They vary greatly as the compilation of the survey was undertaken by and at the discretion of each individual clergyman.