DIOCESE OF SALISBURY

The earlier documents cover four main areas; administration, court records, visitation records and non-contentious court records, while the 'modern', documents also include management, personnel, welfare and missionary and the Diocesan Council of Education.

Bishop of Salisbury

Archdeacons of Salisbury

Archdeacon of Wiltshire

Sub-Dean of Salisbury

Dean of Salisbury

Prebend of Bishopstone

Prebend of Chute and Chisenbury

Prebend of Coombe and Harnham

Prebend of Durnford

Prebend of Highworth

Prebend of Hurstbourne and Burbage

Prebend of Netheravon

Prebend of Wilsford and Woodford

Prebend of Chardstock

Prebend of Fordington

Prebend of Lyme and Halstock

Prebend of Netherbury

Prebend of Preston

Prebend of Yetminster and Grimstone

Prebend of Uffculme

Peculiar of the Lord Warden of Savernake Forest

Peculiar of Trowbridge

Peculiar of the Dean and Canons of Windsor

Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter

Peculiar of the Precentor

Peculiar of the Treasurer

Peculiar of Gillingham

Bishop of Bristol: Sub-Registry for Dorset

Archdeacon of Dorset

Archdeacon of Sherborne

'MODERN' DIOCESAN RECORDS

Management

Personnel

Property

Welfare and Missionary

Miscellaneous

Diocesan Council of Education

<span class="wrapper"><p>Records of Diocesan Societies, Associations and Organisations deposited as other accessions in the Record Office:</p> <p>Diocesan Guild of Ringers 2296</p> <p>Salisbury Theological College 2308</p> <p>Warminster St. Denys' Convent 2969</p> <p>Warminster St. Boniface's College 1673</p> <p>Sarum St. Michael Teacher Training College 1585</p> <p>Diocesan Organists' Association: Trowbridge, Devizes and District Branch 3348</p></span>

The records listed here are those of the bishop of Salisbury, the archdeacons of Salisbury and Wiltshire, the sub-dean of Salisbury and the peculiars; and also records of the bishop of Bristol relating to Dorset, and the archdeacon of Dorset. Before they were moved to the record office at Wren Hall, they were kept in three separate repositories: first, the muniment room in the Exeter Street gatehouse of the bishop's palace; second, the Diocesan Registry itself, at no. 6, The Close; and third, the so-called Dean's Registry over the north porch of the cathedral (Pilgrim Trust: Survey of Ecclesiastical Archives. Report, 1946.) The records kept in the first were the bishop's and had formerly been kept in the Beauchamp Tower of the bishop's palace (Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, vol. XLI, p.97). Those in the registry included records of the bishop, the archdeacons and the peculiars, and some of them had also been in the Beauchamp Tower. The third place, the Dean's Registry, contained the records of the peculiars, the archdeacons and most of the Dorset ones; those of the peculiars and archdeacons had been brought there in 1812 from their separate registries, and the Dorset ones in 1928 (Salisbury Diocesan Gazette, September 1939, article by C. R. Everett).

All these repositories had become over-crowded and inconvenient, and in about 1951 the records began to be moved into the main hall of the former cathedral school at 56 The Close, known as Wren Hall. The transfer of the records was carried out under the direction of Dr. A.E.J. Hollaender, who had been appointed Honorary Archivist to the diocese shortly before. By October 1960, when the agreement with the County Council for setting up a record office came into effect, nearly all the records listed here had been moved to Wren Hall. The list does, however, include a few which came later and from other places, and in particular, records from the registry of the archdeacon of Dorset and from the Dorset County Record Office; also some odd groups and items which were found among the probate records transferred from Somerset House to the Wiltshire County Record Office.

In 1980 it was decided that the premises at Wren Hall were no longer adequate, so the records were transferred to the Diocesan Record Office at County Hall, Trowbridge.

Until 1542 the diocese of Salisbury covered Wiltshire, Berkshire and Dorset. In 1542 Dorset was transferred to the newly formed diocese of Bristol (except for those parishes which were, and remained, Salisbury peculiars), but in 1836 it was transferred back to Salisbury. Also in 1836, Berkshire went to the diocese of Oxford; and in 1837 the deaneries of Cricklade and Malmesbury, in the north of Wiltshire, were transferred to the see of Gloucester and Bristol.

Each of the counties of Dorset and Berkshire formed one archdeaconry until Dorset was divided into two in 1919. Wiltshire was divided into two main archdeaconries, Wiltshire and Salisbury, covering respectively the northern and southern parts of the county, and a minor one called the sub-deanery of Salisbury. This covered the three city parishes of Salisbury and also Stratford-sub-Castle. The registries and records of the Wiltshire archdeaconries, unlike the others, have always been in Salisbury, and in fact their registrars were often the same person as the bishop's registrar. The archdeacon of Berkshire's registry, however, was in Oxford from at least the early 16th century until some time between 1878 and 1920, when it was moved to Reading. The records, which were at one time kept in St. Aldate's church, are now in the Berkshire Record Office and there are none in Salisbury. The registry of the archdeaconry of Dorset was at Blandford until the latter part of the 19th century, when it moved to Sherborne. In 1919 two new archdeaconries of Sherborne and Dorset were established, whose registries effectively ceased operating by 1995.

PARISHES AND CHAPELRIES IN PECULIAR JURISDICTIONS

There were about 27 peculiar jurisdictions in the diocese, nearly all with their separate registries; from all but two or three of these the bishop was completely excluded so far as judicial and administrative matters went, as were the archdeacons, so that their records contain nothing about the parishes in these jurisdictions. By far the biggest was that of the dean of Salisbury; this covered not only more than 40 parishes and chapelries in Wiltshire, Berkshire and Dorset, but had supervisory authority over about 38 more, being the parishes in the prebendal peculiars or in peculiars which had originated as prebendal ones. There were a few peculiars which were quite independent of the dean as well as of the bishop, and never inhibited. They were those of the dean and chapter, the precentor, the treasurer, Gillingham, and the prebendary of Chute in respect of his jurisdiction over Winterbourne Dauntsey. Three more have left no trace among the diocesan archives: Ansty was a royal peculiar and there are no records for it before the latter part of the 19th century, either separately or with those of the bishop; and neither Castle Combe nor Corsham has left a separate collection though they occur in the ordinary way among the bishop's records. The reason for this is not known in the case of Castle Combe, but with Corsham it was because the bishop had concurrent jurisdiction with the vicar, to whom the peculiar belonged. Besides the above there were 11 parishes and chapelries in the bishop's own peculiar. These were: Trowbridge and its chapelry of Staverton (which had, up to the beginning of the 17th century, formed a separate peculiar as well as coming under the bishop), Marlborough St. Mary and St. Peter, Preshute, Devizes St. Mary and St. John, Potterne, West Lavington, Stert and Berwick St. James. The archdeacons were excluded from these parishes, but the bishop dealt with them in the ordinary course of his business, as well as visiting them at extra times. The peculiars were abolished in 1846, by Order in Council, though that of the dean lingered on for some time.

Ten parishes in Dorset were Bristol peculiars (see list below):

Berkshire

Parish Arborfield Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Aston Upthorpe, in Blewbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Blewbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Coxwell, Little, in Faringdon Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Faringdon

Parish Faringdon Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Faringdon

Parish Hungerford Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Canons of Windsor

Parish Hurst Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Ruscombe Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Sandhurst Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Sonning Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Upton, in Blewbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Wantage Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Canons of Windsor

Parish Wokingham Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Devon

Parish Uffculme Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Uffculme

Dorset

Parish Alton Pancras Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Anderson (or Winterborne Anderstone) Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Beaminster Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Netherbury in Ecclesia

Parish Beer Hackett Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Bere Regis Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Bloxworth Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Bourton, in Gillingham Peculiar Jurisdiction Gillingham

Parish Canford Magna (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Great Canford and Poole

Parish Castleton, in Sherborne Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Caundle Marsh Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Chardstock (now in Devon) Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Chardstock

Parish Charminster Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Chetnole, in Yetminster Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Yetminster and Grimstone

Parish Clifton Maybank Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Compton, Nether Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Compton, Over Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Corfe Castle (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Corfe Castle

Parish Corfe Mullen (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Sturminster Marshall

Parish Folke Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Fordington Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Fordington and Writhlington

Parish Gillingham Peculiar Jurisdiction Gillingham

Parish Halstock Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Lyme and Halstock

Parish Hamworthy (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Sturminster Marshall

Parish Haydon Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Hermitage Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Holnest Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Leigh, in Yetminster Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Yetminster and Grimstone Lillington

Parish Long Burton Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Lyme Regis Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Lyme and Halstock

Parish Lytchett Minster (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Sturminster Marshall

Parish Mapperton Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Milton Abbas (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Milton Abbas

Parish Motcombe, in Gillingham Peculiar Jurisdiction Gillingham

Parish Netherbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Netherbury in Ecclesia

Parish Oborne Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Poole (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Great Canford and Poole

Parish Preston Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Preston

Parish Ryme Intrinsica Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Sherborne Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Stockwood Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Stourpaine Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Stratton Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Sturminster Marshall (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Sturminster Marshall

Parish Sutton Poyntz, in Preston Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Preston

Parish Thornford Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Turner's Puddle Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Wambrook (now in Somerset) Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Chardstock

Parish Wimborne Minster (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Wimborne Minster

Parish Winterborne Kingston Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Winterborne Tomson Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Woolland (Bristol) Peculiar Jurisdiction Milton Abbas

Parish Wootton, North Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Yetminster Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Yetminster and Grimstone

Wiltshire

Parish Alderbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Treasurer

Parish Baydon Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Bedwyn, Great Peculiar Jurisdiction Lord Warden of Savernake Forest

Parish Bedwyn, Little Peculiar Jurisdiction Lord Warden of Savernake Forest

Parish Berwick Bassett Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Calne

Parish Bishopstone, North Wiltshire Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Bishopstone

Parish Blackland Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Calne

Parish Blunsdon, Broad, in Highworth Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Highworth

Parish Bramshaw (now in Hampshire) Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Bratton, in Westbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Precentor

Parish Britford Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Burbage Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Hurstbourne and Burbage

Parish Calne Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Calne (Treasurer's Peculiar)

Parish Cannings, Bishop's Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Cherhill Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Calne (Treasurer's Peculiar)

Parish Chute Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Chute and Chisenbury

Parish Collingbourne Ducis Peculiar Jurisdiction Lord Warden of Savernake Forest

Parish Coombe Bissett Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Coombe and Harnham

Parish Deverill, Hill Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Dilton, in Westbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Precentor

Parish Durnford Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Durnford

Parish Farley Peculiar Jurisdiction Treasurer

Parish Figheldean Peculiar Jurisdiction Treasurer

Parish Harnham, West Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Coombe and Harnham

Parish Heytesbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Highworth Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Highworth

Parish Homington Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Horningsham Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Knook Dean

Parish Marston, South, in Highworth Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Highworth

Parish Mere Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Netheravon Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Netheravon

Parish Ogbourne St. Andrew Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Canons of Windsor

Parish Ogbourne St. George Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Canons of Windsor

Parish Pitton Peculiar Jurisdiction Treasurer

Parish Ramsbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Salisbury, Cathedral Close Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Sevenhampton, in Highworth Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Highworth

Parish Shalbourne (formerly partly in Berkshire) Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Canons of Windsor

Parish Southbroom, in Bishop's Cannings Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean and Chapter

Parish Staverton, in Trowbridge Peculiar Jurisdiction Trowbridge

Parish Swallowcliffe Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Trowbridge Peculiar Jurisdiction Trowbridge

Parish Tytherington, in Heytesbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Dean

Parish Westbury Peculiar Jurisdiction Precentor

Parish Wilsford (with Lake) Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Wilsford and Woodford

Parish Winterbourne Dauntsey Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Chute and Chisenbury

Parish Woodford Peculiar Jurisdiction Prebend of Wilsford and Woodford