A priory is a religious house under a prior or prioress. It is a type of monastery that may be headed by a prior or prioress and is typically home to a small group of monks or nuns who live and work together. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns, such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites, or monasteries of monks or nuns, such as the Benedictines. Houses of canons regular and canonesses regular also use this term, the alternative being "canonry". In pre-Reformation England, if an abbey church was raised to cathedral status, the abbey became a cathedral priory. The bishop, in effect, took the place of the abbot, and the monastery itself was headed by a prior.