nounplural noun vestries

• 1A room or building attached to a church, used as an office and for changing into ceremonial vestments.

  ‘Outside is a small boiler house and the vestry with a single room of about 90 sq ft.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The school opened with just nine pupils, using a church hall as a classroom and the vestry as an office.’
  • ‘It will also include two meeting rooms, a kitchen, an office, a vestry and toilets.’
  • ‘They have found neglected war memorials left in back rooms, museum stores and vestries, and hope that their work will persuade the relevant organisations to display them prominently once more.’
  • ‘By the time the choir had gone into the vestry, the entire church was in complete and utter darkness.’
  • ‘This simple meeting room was opened in 1840, being a large room with a small vestry to the rear.’
  • ‘How many boxes of candles are stacked in church vestries across Britain?’
  • ‘A system of smoke detectors is set to cover the entire cathedral including the soon to be completed new vestry and education room.’
  • ‘Today the building has interesting features including stained glass windows, a carved rood screen, a pipe organ, a choir vestry and a beautifully carved pulpit.’
  • ‘The new choir and organ loft will create a useful space underneath for a vestry with a secure area for valuables, kitchens, toilets and storage space.’
  • ‘Almost every gravestone was flattened by the force of the water which even got into the vestry - two steps higher than the church floor.’
  • ‘They were married in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral, in New York, one week after his first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published.’
  • ‘The new vestry (started August 1, projected completion date October 31) is just beginning to get its roof on.’
  • ‘Original plans to rebuild the vestry were estimated at £350,000, with £260,000 of that received from a legacy.’
  • ‘Albert had been working in the vestry and was caught.’
  • ‘The first hymn will provide the perfect cover for a quick dash to the vestry, where Andrew will swap the father's suit for his vicar's vestments.’
  • ‘After ransacking the vestry and attempting to tear a steel donation box from the wall the burglars left empty-handed.’
  • ‘This morning we had a working party to clear the existing vestry.’
  • ‘Please inform your priest in the vestry before Mass if you wish to receive.’

  1. 1.1A meeting of parishioners, originally in a vestry, for the conduct of parochial business.