The Diocese of Winchester: Reform and Re-Organisation 1827-1927
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froc. Hampshire Field Club Archae.nl. Soc. 63, 2008, 76-87 (Hampshire Studies 2008) THE DIOCESE OF WINCHESTER: REFORM AND RE-ORGANISATION 1827-1927 By PETER GILLIAT ABSTRACT in particular was growing very rapidly, as the county became ever more closely linked with Reform of the Church of England in the nineteenth London through improved road communica- century has usually been explained by the spiritual tions. New industrial development took place revival in the parishes inspired by the Evangelical in Bermondsey and Southwark on the south Revival and the Oxford Movement, and the institu- bank of the Thames, and new residential tional reforms facilitated by parliamentary legislation. areas in Surrey became increasingly popular Hoiuever, Arthur Burns (1999) has recently added with business people who needed convenient a further perspective on nineteenth century church access to London. In Hampshire, Portsmouth reform and identified what he calls a 'diocesan had grown rapidly whilst servicing the needs revival' in the Church of England. He describes the of the navy during the French Revolutionary revival and renewal of different diocesan institutions and Napoleonic wars; Southampton's modern and then examines their impact on further church growth lay in the future and Bournemouth reform., such as the demand for new dioceses. This hardly existed. article seeks to draw together evidence for a diocesan The diocese had its origins in the Anglo- revival in the Winchester diocese, especially during Saxon kingdom of Wessex and in the Middle Bishop Sumner's long episcopate (1827-1869) and Ages it became the richest bishopric in the goes on to explain the way in which the demand for country. It derived its wealth from its extensive new dioceses was met in Winchester: first through the, estates which were concentrated in Hampshire 'loss' of south London and east Surrey in 1877 and but extended into Oxfordshire, Surrey and then through the creation of the Guildford and Port- Somerset, reflecting the original extent of smouth dioceses in 1927. the see. Its bishops built and extended their castles and palaces from which their lands were administered, including Wolvesey Palace INTRODUCTION in their cathedral city of Winchester, Farnham Castle on the Hampshire-Surrey border and Winchester is one of the oldest English Winchester Palace in Southwark. Medieval dioceses and at the beginning of the nine- bishops were primarily leading members of the teenth century it was still one of the largest. It government and as close advisers of the king stretched from south London and the Thames their attendance at court took precedence over to the New Forest and the Solent; it covered the diocesan matters which were often delegated Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight, Hampshire to others. The medieval bishops of Winches- and Surrey, although a few parishes in Surrey ter were among the most important of royal were in the London or Canterbury dioceses. advisers and included four treasurers and ten The urban areas in the diocese were growing lord chancellors. and the population was increasing. In 1801 After the upheavals of the Reformation the total population of Hampshire and Surrey and the Civil War Bishop Morley (1662-1684) was 484,000 and in 1831 it was 800,000. Surrey worked hard to re-establish the traditional 76 CIL.LIAT: THE DIOCESE OF WINCHESTER: REFORM AND RE-ORGANISATION 1827-1927 77 status and dignity of the bishop's office. This century predecessors. From the beginning his was reflected in the building work he carried leadership style promised to be very different. out at Farnham and Wolvesey; in London, In his first charge to the clergy of the diocese he he abandoned Winchester Palace, which had expressed the hope that 'mutual confidence' fallen into disrepair during the Civil War, and would characterise his relations with them and bought a new London house in Chelsea, later 'that they would find in me, not an indifferent to be replaced by a house in St James's Square. and apathetic witness of their spiritual toils, but In the eighteenth century bishops of Win- a fellow-servant and friend'. He was able to refer chester, like other bishops, were essentially to his own experience of the parochial ministry political figures. Their duties in the House as a curate for five years (1816—21) at Highclere of Lords kept them in London for much of in northwest Hampshire: 'here I learnt the the year, and poor communications discour- alternations of hope and disappointment, of aged them from travelling round the diocese. joys and fears, with which the ministrations of They seldom intervened in the administration the parochial office are inseparably attended' of the diocese or in the lives of the parochial (Sumner 1876, 170). At the start of his episco- clergy. They ordained new clergy, usually at pate Sumner signalled his intention to provide their homes in London or Farnham, but there- active and visible leadership in the diocese after there was little contact between bishop by being enthroned in person in Winchester and clergy. Cathedral, the first to do so since the Refor- The state of the Winchester diocese during mation. During his 42-year episcopate three the eighteenth century has been the subject developments in particular transformed the of lively debate (Ward 1995; Gibson 2003; diocese: closer episcopal oversight of the clergy, Smith 2004). However, at the beginning of the a strengthened middle management provided nineteenth century Parliament, in the wake by the archdeacons and rural deans, and the of the American and French Revolutions, growth of diocesan societies and organisations. had become increasingly worried about the Before his translation to Winchester Sumner Church of England's ability to perform its role had been briefly Bishop of Llandaff where as the church of the nation. In particular, it he had astonished the diocese by requiring a was concerned about the extent and impact of detailed return from ever)' parish before issuing pluralism and non-residence, the provision of his first charge and carrying out a visitation. He Anglican churches in the growing towns and the did the same in Winchester and repeated the increase in dissenting congregations. During process even' four years during his 42 years as the first half of the nineteenth century Parlia- bishop. Like other Victorian reformers Sumner ment required bishops to provide a constant placed considerable importance on statistics and by analysing the returns he could pinpoint stream of information and legislated to remove 7 pluralism and absenteeism, and to redistribute deficiencies and identify improvements. In his church resources on a national scale under first charge, for example, he spoke out against the Ecclesiastical Commission established in non-residence and drew attention to the need 1835. It was against this background of parlia- for more churches; in recommending more mentary reform that the revival and renewal frequent communion he noted, T observe of diocesan institutions in Winchester took by the returns that the communicants in this place during Charles Sumner's long episcopate diocese very rarely exceed one-tenth part of (1827-1869). the congregation' (Sumner 1876, 175). In his 1845 charge he was able to report that since 1829 the congregations showed a numerical increase of about a quarter and communicants REFORM AND REVIVAL 1827-1877 had doubled (Sumner 1876, 298). Among his statistics in his quadrennial charges Sumner Appointed bishop of Winchester at the age of 37, always included a tally of clergy surviving from Charles Sumner was very unlike his eighteenth 78 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY his first visitation, also noting those deceased relied on Joseph Wigram, Archdeacon of since the last one; in his last charge in 1867 he Winchester from 1847 to 1860, to implement observed that only twenty-four incumbents were church reform in Southampton. The town was still in post from the time he became bishop 40 undergoing huge expansion with the opening years before. Burns (1999, 34) comments that of the railway to London in 1840 and the con- Sumner's inclusion of this kind of diocesan struction of the docks, the first of which was data in his charges to the clergy set a trend and opened in 1843. Sumner installed Wigram as 'encouraged them to feel part of a collective Rector of St Mary's in 1850, and immediately enterprise'. the parish was divided and the revenues re- Sumner was also active in his pastoral allocated for the benefit of new and existing oversight of the clergy through his frequent churches. Sumner's archdeacons lived up to travels round the diocese. He met them during Burns' description of them as key players in the his quadrennial visitations at different centres, diocesan revival, 'transforming the schemes of and when he visited parishes to consecrate new bishops and the Ecclesiastical Commission into buildings and institute new incumbents. In 1829 concrete achievement' (Burns 1999, 74). he visited the Channel Islands, the first visit by Sumner not only had the help of his two the diocesan bishop for 300 years and repeated archdeacons but in 1829 he revived the ancient every four years. Sumner gave high priority to office of rural dean. They were commissioned confirmation; each year he undertook confir- to visit and inspect their deanery parishes mation tours and during his episcopate the once a year and inform the bishop of any number of centres increased from around 30 vacant benefices; from time to time he called to nearly 140. All such visits provided opportu- them together for a three-day conference at nities for the bishop to become 'a more visible Farnham Castle. In 1843 Sumner sanctioned and familiar presence in the parishes' (Burns the restoration of ruridecanal chapters, which 1999, 132).