Mansfield Parsonage is the residence of the rector in Mansfield. The parsonage is only half a mile from Mansfield Park, but the houses are not in sight of each other and Fanny Price must walk fifty yards from the hall door to see the parsonage.[1]
The living's income is not clear. When Mr. Norris was the rector, his income was "very little less than a thousand a year,"[2] but this might include the interest of his wife Mrs. Norris's personal fortune of seven thousand pounds. Sir Thomas says it earns "more than half the income"[3] his second son Edmund might expect as clergyman, meaning it is greater than the seven hundred pounds a-year from the Thornton Lacey living.
When Tom Bertram's debts became too much his father Sir Thomas Bertram was forced to sell the next presentation of the living to Dr. Grant rather than give it to a friend to hold until his son Edmund is old enough to be ordained.[3] When Mr. Norris dies, Dr. Grant becomes the new rector, and he and his wife move into the parsonage house.
Three years later Mrs. Grant invites her half-siblings Henry and Mary Crawford to come stay with her after their widowed uncle Admiral Crawford brings his mistress to live with him. They meet the Bertrams, and while Henry flirts with Maria and Julia, Mary falls in love with Edmund. The families of Mansfield Park and the Parsonage often dine together and visit each other, and Edmund calls on the Parsonage every morning to hear Mary play the harp.
The Grants are visiting Bath when they learn of Henry and Maria's elopement, and rather than return to Mansfield, they decide to stay there until Dr. Grant succeeds to a stall in Westminster and they move to London. Upon Dr. Grant's death, Edmund acquires the living before the birth of his first child with Fanny, which makes them glad for the increased income and proximity to Mansfield Park.