Records of the Diocese of Southwark, 1742-2000. The collection relates to the area of London covered by the Diocese of Southwark south of the River Thames, dating mainly from 1905. It provides a wealth of information on church architecture and fixtures, sources for marriages and clergy (of particular use for family history), and the morals and conduct of clergy and their parishioners. Some records date from when parishes were under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Winchester (before 1877) and the Diocese of Rochester (1877-1904).
The records of Southwark Diocesan Regsistry include the following: grants of faculties relating to church buildings and fittings with a large number of coloured drawings and plans of churches, monuments, stained glass designs and other fittings (1905-2000); consecration and dedication papers including petitions and plans relating to new churches and burial grounds (1905-1976); ordinations and appointments of clergy (1878-1974); records relating to marriages including lists of marriage licences granted to couples intending to marry in churches within the Diocese of Rochester and Southwark (1877-1910, 1940-1958) and marriage warrants and affidavits recording the declarations made by parties intending to marry by licence (1905-1974).
Also records relating to visitations, the process by which the bishop maintained faith and discipline and corrected clerical and lay abuses, including lists of churchwardens (1924-1956), visitation returns (1907-1956) and presentment reports submitted by churchwardens on the state of church buildings and the conduct of clergy and parishioners in the parish (1905-1974).
The collection also contains minutes and property deeds from the Rochester and Southwark Diocesan Church Trust (1817-1966) relating to the College of Saint Saviour, Saint Olave, Southwark and All Saints, North Peckham, including correspondence relating to the removal of remains from the Flemish Burial Ground, adjacent to Saint Olave in 1842 (reference DS/CT); and minutes and related papers of Rural Deaneries of Dulwich, and Newington and Southwark (1869-1990) (reference DS/DRD).
Please note that some of the collection is uncatalogued. Please ask a member of staff for information regarding the procedure to access uncatalogued records.
Diocese of Southwark , Church of England