ABSTRACT
A distinguishing characteristic of the clergy home is the fact that it is not merely
a domestic space but one also focussed on professional ministry. So much was
argued in Chapter 6, where we saw how, from the perspective of the clergy wife
and children, the vicarage and palace may serve their domestic needs as a secondary
concern to the primary business of running and serving the parish or diocese. This
perspective features prominently in the memories of childhood confided in us by
the majority of our respondents, and even the 22 per cent minority who had not
spent formative years within a vicarage cite experiences that are still characteristic
of this environment. With bishops increasingly assuming the primarily role of
‘pastor-manager’ this arrangement is increasingly replicated in the bishop’s palace.
From the point of view of clergy children, their home is both domestic dwelling
