Winchester Diocesan Registry

Mr Andrew Johnson is the Diocesan Registrar for both the Diocese of Winchester and the Diocese of Salisbury. The Deputy Registrar is Mrs Sue de Candole.

The work of the Registry is wide ranging. As well as the giving of legal advice to Bishops and all other clergy, churchwardens and PCCs and various other diocesan boards and committees the work of the Registry can be summarised as follows:

Appointments

We deal with the preparation of licences, deeds, instruments and all other documents relating to the appointment of clergy and lay office holders. We also deal with paperwork to do with Ordinations. If you are to be Ordained then you will need to provide your certificates of Baptism and Confirmation to us here at the Registry for checking. Please contact us for further information.

Churchyards

The preparation of documents relating to consecration of churchyards (and occasionally churches) and cemeteries is the responsibility of the Registry as is dealing with the process for the reservation of graves spaces in churchyards. For notes relating to the Reservation of a Grave Space, click here

We can also help with enquiries relating to new memorials in churchyards. There is no specific right given to anyone to have a memorial erected, or have a particular inscription on a memorial, in a churchyard. Appropriate permission must always be obtained first. In the first instance anyone wishing to place a memorial in a churchyard should contact the vicar (or equivalent person) for authorisation. The vicar has, in practice, been given authority to allow memorials so long as they comply with guidelines laid down by the Chancellor of the Diocese. These guidelines relate to the type and size of memorial, the type of stone to be used and which inscriptions are considered appropriate. Proposals for memorials that fall outside the guidelines will need to go before the Chancellor for approval. Please contact us here at the Registry if you have any doubt about proposals for memorials. For a summary of the Chancellor’s Guidelines, click here

Please note that we do not hold specific burial records and can not help with genealogical enquiries.

Faculties

Here at the Registry we deal with the granting of faculties to authorise changes or additions to churches, consecrated buildings and churchyards. Please do feel free to contact us if you have any queries about the faculty process or indeed whether a faculty is required. Some works do not require a faculty and some require merely written permission from the DAC. A list of such work, known as Schedules A and B, is available from the Diocesan Advisory Committee, click here.

Marriage

In order to marry in church one of the parties must have a qualifying connection with that church. To see a list of qualifying connections, click here. In the first instance you should contact the local member of clergy in order to discuss making arrangements for marriage.

Although marriages in a church require the legal preliminaries to be by way of the calling of banns there are occasions where the legal preliminaries need to be dealt with in another way. Some couples who do not live permanently in England or Wales or where one or both parties to the marriage are foreign nationals should contact us here at the Registry in order to arrange for an application form for a Common Licence. It will be necessary to arrange to visit the Registry in order to swear an affidavit in order to obtain such a licence. In some instances it may be possible to visit a local surrogate to swear such an affidavit. It is also possible to marry by way of Superintendent Registrar’s Certificate, although this is rarely used, and by way of Special Licence granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office. Again, please contact the Registry for specific advice relating to your individual circumstances.

Members of clergy should feel free to call us if they have any questions regarding the legal preliminaries for marriage or any other issues concerning marriage in church.

Miscellaneous

Any legal queries regarding PCC meetings and the responsibilities of PCCs, duties of churchwardens, chancel repair liabilities, marriage, churchyards, memorials, works to churches and faculty jurisdiction. We would always suggest that you contact us in the first instance and if we are not able to help with your enquiry we are generally able to point you in the direction of someone who can.

There are three Registry Clerks, Mrs Dee Elston, Mrs Sarah Hart and Mrs Anita Jeans who deal with most day to day matters and are more than happy to take calls or emails and can be contacted on 01722 432390 or via email at registry@battbroadbent.co.uk

Winchester Diocesan Registry, 42/44 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wilts SP1 3TX

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