Clergy house

This practice exists in many denominations because of the tendency of clergy to be transferred from one church to another at relatively frequent intervals.

Clergy houses frequently serve as the administrative office of the local parish, as well as a residence.

Partly because of the general conservation of churches, many clergy houses have survived and are of historic interest or importance.

In the United Kingdom, the 14th-century Alfriston Clergy House was the first property to be acquired by the National Trust.

In North American Anglicanism, a far greater proportion of parish clergy were (and still are) titled as rector than in Britain, so the term rectory is more common there.