Corrodians were in essence pensioners who lived in

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

nunneries A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. They were usually well-to-do elderly lay people who paid or were sponsored for accommodation and food for the rest of their lives. This payment might be in cash but would more usually be by donating land to the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

in question. If they were men with no heirs, the whole estate could be granted to the abbey; otherwise they might 'retire' from the running of their estates and leave that to their heirs, but apportion a part that was not entailed for the abbey. This was a way for abbeys to gain income, especially in their later days in England, when their numbers were in decline so they had space to accommodate pensioners and less money coming as dowers from new entrants to the orders.

References

Retirement Christian monasticism {{Christianity-stub