Alfriston Clergy House of the nascent, but unknown, National Trust to see if it might be interested in taking on the Clergy House. The SPAB put him in touch with Canon Rawnsley, one of the National Trust's founders. Before the Trust decided to acquire the building another founder of the Trust, Octavia Hill, contacted the Society for advice. In her letter she said that they "will be asked to 'restore' it, so far as that odious word means preserve from decay of course we should wish to do so." This dislike of damaging 19th century restoration practices was confirmed by the National Trust
Octavia Hill others. The Octavia Hill Society website states that with a community hall, and soundly maintained attractive houses, Hill here anticipated the fundamental ingredients of town planning by some 15 years. The Settlement Movement (creating integrated mixed communities of rich and poor) grew directly out of Hill's work. Her colleagues Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, founded Toynbee Hall, the first university-sponsored settlement, which together with the Women's University Settlement (later called the Blackfriars Settlement) continues to serve local communities. Overseas, Hill's name is perpetuated in the Octavia Hill Association in Philadelphia, a small property company founded in 1896 to provide affordable housing