The diocesan offices, the bishops' offices and residences and the cathedral are all located around the Bishop's Palace in Wells. The diocese is not referred to as "Bath diocese" or "Wells diocese", but as "Bath and Wells diocese".[2] The ordinary of the diocese is the diocesan Bishop of Bath and Wells, Michael Beasley; he is assisted throughout the diocese by the Bishop suffragan of Taunton, Ruth Worsley. Her See was created in 1911.
Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese that reject the ministry of women priests) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), the Bishop suffragan of Ebbsfleet, Jonathan Goodall. He is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.[3]
The parish with its local parish church is the basic unit of the Church of England. The parish within the Church of England structure has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church and survived the Reformation largely untouched. Church of England parishes are currently each within one of 44 dioceses divided between the provinces of Canterbury, with 30 dioceses, and York with 14. In 2017 there were approximately 12,600 Church of England parishes in all, with 477 being within this diocese.[4]
Each parish is administered by a parish priest who may be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates, who are also ordained but not parish priests. There are wide variations in the size of parishes and church-going populations. A parish priest may have responsibility for one parish or for two or more, and some are part of a team ministry. By extension, the term parish refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation. A benefice or "living" in the Church of England describes any ecclesiastical parish or group of ecclesiastical parishes under a single stipendiary minister.[5] The holder of a benefice owns the "freehold" of the post (the church and the parsonage house) for life.
Until the late 19th century, the parishes were the smallest area for local government and administrative functions. Following the Local Government Act 1894, the civil duties of the church were abolished and separate civil parishes were established.[6] As a result of the different needs of the civil community and the church, in many cases the boundaries of the ecclesiastical parishes and their equivalent civil parish have diverged with time.
The deanery is mostly within Bath and North East Somerset, but includes one civil parish in Wiltshire and a small section in South Gloucestershire. As well as covering the city of Bath, it also includes the surrounding suburbs of the city and neighbouring villages.[8]
The deanery covers areas of South Somerset including Crewkerne and North Perrott, with many of the surrounding villages. Some of the parishes are just over the county border in West Dorset.
The archdeaconry covers the majority of Mendip, the eastern halves of Sedgemoor and South Somerset, as well as small sections in neighbouring districts in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. Wells Cathedral is within the geographic extent of the archdeaconry, but is excluded from it. The Archdeacon of Wells is Anne Gell.[7]
↑ Dunbabin, J. P. D. (1997). "British Local Government Reform: The Nineteenth Century and after". The English Historical Review. 92 (365): 777–805. JSTOR567654.
For the Bishops of Wells (10th century–1090), Bishops of Bath (1090–1197 & 1219–1245) and Bishops of Bath and Glastonbury (1197–1219), see Bishop of Bath and Wells
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