Editing Glebe

{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
[[File:Plan mediaeval manor.jpg|thumb|300px|Conjectural map of a medieval [[Manorialism|manor]]. The method of "strip farming" was in use under the [[open field system]]. The mustard-coloured areas are part of the '''[[demesne]]''', the [[hatching|hatched]] areas part of the '''glebe'''. The [[manor house]], residence of the [[Lord of the Manor|lord]], can be seen in the mid-southern part of the manor, near the parish church and [[parsonage]]]]
{{English Feudalism}}

A '''glebe''' ({{IPAc-en|g|l|iː|b}}, also known as '''church furlong''', '''rectory manor''' or '''parson's close'''('''s''')){{sfn|McGurk|1970|p=17}}<ref name=styles>{{harvnb|Styles|1945|pp=31–42}}</ref> 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.

==Medieval origins==
In the [[Roman Catholic]], [[Anglican]] and [[Presbyterian]] traditions, a glebe is land belonging to a [[benefice]] and so by default to its [[incumbent (ecclesiastical)|incumbent]].  In other words, "glebe is land (in addition to or including the parsonage house/rectory and grounds) which was assigned to support the priest".{{sfn|Coredon|2007|p=140}}

The word ''glebe'' itself comes from [[Middle English]], from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|glèbe}} (originally from {{langx|la|gleba}} or {{lang|la|glaeba}}, "clod, land, soil").

Glebe land can include strips in the [[open-field system]] or portions grouped together into a compact plot of land.{{sfn|McGurk|1970|p=17}} In early times,{{Clarify timeframe|date=March 2022}} [[tithes]] provided the main means of support for the parish clergy, but glebe land was either granted by any [[lord of the manor]] of the church's parish (sometimes the manor would have boundaries coterminous with the parish but in most instances it would be smaller),<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/place.aspx?region=2 |title= Institute of Historical Research |work= History of the County of Oxfordshire, of Surrey, of Sussex etc.}}{{Verify source|date=May 2016|reason= The link needs to be to a section that contains this fact not (as it is in May 2016) a link to a whole library of books}}</ref> or accumulated from other donations of particular pieces of land.  Occasionally all or part of the glebe was  [[wikt:appropriate#Verb|appropriated]], ''devoted'' or ''assigned'' to a [[priory]] or [[college]]. In the case where the whole glebe was given to [[impropriator]]s they would become the [[lay rector]](s)<ref name=styles/> (plural where the land is now subdivided), in which case the general law of [[tithe]]s would resume on that land, and in England and Wales [[chancel repair liability]] would now apply to the lay rectors just as it had to the [[rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]].

The amount of such land varied from parish to parish, occasionally forming a complete '''glebe farm'''.<ref>Such as the Glebe Farm {{harv|Styles|1945|pp=31–42}}.</ref> From 1571 onwards, the incumbent of the benefice would  record information about the glebe at ecclesiastical visitations in a "[[glebe terrier]]" (Latin ''terra'', land).{{sfn|Hey|1996|p=204}} Glebe land could also entail complete farms, individual fields, houses ([[messuage]]s), mills or works.   A holder of a benefice could retain the glebe for his own use, usually for agricultural exploitation, or he could  [[Farm (revenue commutation)|"farm"]] it (i.e., lease it, a term also used){{sfn|Malden|1911|pp=107–111}} to others and retain a rent as income.{{sfn|McGurk|1970|p=17}}

==Britain==

===Church of England===
Glebe associated with the [[Church of England]] ceased to belong to individual incumbents as from 1 April 1978, by virtue of the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 (No. 4). It became vested on that date, "without any conveyance or other assurance", in the [[Diocesan Board of Finance]] of the [[diocese]] to which the benefice owning the glebe belonged, even if the glebe was in another diocese. But see 'Parsonages & Glebe Diocesan Manual 2012' for current legislation.

===Scotland===
Glebe land in Scotland was subject to the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925 ([[15 & 16 Geo. 5]]. c. 33), section 30,<ref>UK Legislation, [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/33/section/30 Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925, section 30], accessed 26 September 2023</ref> which meant that it would be transferred little by little to the General Trustees of the [[Church of Scotland]].{{sfn|Cross|1957|p=563}}

==Anglo-America==
In [[Bermuda]] and the [[Thirteen Colonies]] of Great Britain where the Church of England was the established church, glebe land was distributed by the colonial government and was often farmed or rented out by the church [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] to cover living expenses.{{sfn|SM Staff|2012}} The [[Reformed Church in America|Dutch Reformed Church]] also provided glebes for the benefit of the pastor; it continued this practice through at least the 1850s.{{sfn|Heisler|1872|p=295}}{{sfn|Ellis|1878|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2016}} In some cases associations with former glebe properties is retained in the local names, for example: [[Virginia State Route 120|Glebe Road]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], the community of [[Glebe, West Virginia|Glebe]] in [[Hampshire County, West Virginia]], Glebe Mountain in Londonderry, Windham County, Vermont, Glebe Hill, near [[Tucker's Town, Bermuda|Tucker's Town]], Bermuda, another Glebe Hill in [[Southampton, Bermuda|Southampton Parish]], Bermuda, and The Glebe Road in [[Pembroke, Bermuda|Pembroke Parish]], Bermuda.  Ottawa neighbourhood [[The Glebe]] was originally land dedicated to support [[St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Ottawa)|St Andrew's Presbyterian Church]].

The Baptist, Presbyterian and other churches that were not established in Virginia succeeded in 1802 and passage in the legislature of the Glebe Act, whereby whether glebes were sold by the overseers of the poor for the benefit of the indigent in the parish. The Episcopal Church was weakened by the new law, but in the Carolinas the glebes remained in the hands of the church and either were worked by the minister or rented out by them.<ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Holmes|title=A Brief History of the Episcopal Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsV-qSRKAnAC&pg=PA24|year=1993|publisher=A&C Black|pages=24–25|isbn=9781563380600}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Manse]] – a dwelling and, historically in ecclesiastical contexts, the amount of land needed to support a single family

==Notes==
{{reflist|colwidth=33em}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Coredon |first=Christopher |year=2007 |title=A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases  |edition=Reprint |publisher=D. S. Brewer |location=Woodbridge |isbn=978-1-84384-138-8  }}
* {{cite book |last=Cross |first=F. L. |year=1957 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=563 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Franklin |title=The Reformed Church of Linlithgo Livingston Columbia County New York |year=1878}}
* {{cite book |last=Heisler |first= D. Y. |title=The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America |volume=3 |year=1872}}
* {{cite book |last=Hey |first=David |author-link=Hey, David |year=1996 |title=The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=204 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Malden |editor-first=H. E. |year=1911 |chapter=Parishes: Shalford   |title=A History of the County of Surrey |volume=3 |location=London |publisher=Victoria County History |pages=107–111  |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp107-111 }}
* {{cite book |last=McGurk |first=J. J. N. |title=A Dictionary of Medieval Terms: For the Use of History Students |publisher=Reigate Press for St Mary's College of Education |location= Reigate, UK |year=1970|oclc= 138858}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Styles |editor-first=Philip |year=1945 |chapter=Parishes: Aston Cantlow |title=A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3: Barlichway hundred |location=London |publisher=Victoria County History |pages=31–42 |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol3/pp31-42 }}
* {{cite news  |ref={{harvid|SM Staff|2012}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=15 March 2012 |title=The Glebe of Cumberland Parish |newspaper=[[The Southside Messenger]] |url=http://www.southsidemessenger.com/articles/2012/03/16/news/local06.txt |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130202215609/http://www.southsidemessenger.com/articles/2012/03/16/news/local06.txt |archive-date=2 February 2013 }}

==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary|glebe}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Glebe|volume=12 |page=117 |short=x}}
* {{cite journal |last=Beresford |first=M. W. | author-link = Maurice Beresford |year=1948 |title=Glebe terriers in open field Leicestershire |journal=Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society |volume=24}}

{{Short description|Area of land to support a parish priest}}

[[Category:Christianity in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Church of England]]