The Archdeacon of Winchester is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Winchester.
History Originally created as the archdeaconry of Basingstoke on 26 July 1927 within the Diocese of Winchester and from the old Archdeaconry of Winchester, the office replaced that of Archdeacon of Surrey, which had been newly transferred to the Diocese of Guildford. The Basingstoke archdeaconry was renamed to Winchester in 2000, the ancient Archdeaconry of Winchester having been renamed to Bournemouth.
The archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the archdeaconry, which (on its creation) consisted of six rural deaneries in the northern part of the diocese: Aldershot, Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Kingsclere and Silchester. Since a pastoral reorganisation in 2000, the diocese now consists of the new archdeaconry of Winchester (the north) and the archdeaconry of Bournemouth (the south).
List of archdeacons Archdeacons of Basingstoke 1927–1947 (ret.): John Turner 1948–2 April 1958 (d.): Anthony Chute 1958–1971 (ret.): Richard Rudgard (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) 1971–1982 (res.): Geoffrey Finch (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) 1982–1990 (ret.): Trevor Nash (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) 1990–1998 (res.): Alec Knight 1999–2000: John Guille (became Archdeacon of Winchester) In 2000, the archdeaconry was renamed Winchester. Archdeacons of Winchester 2000–2007 (res.): John Guille (previously Archdeacon of Basingstoke) 23 April 2009 – 30 November 2015 (ret.): Michael HarleyDiocese of Winchester — Archdeacon of Winchester to retire in November (Accessed 24 July 2015) 2016National Archdeacons' Forum — Archdeacons’ News, January 2015 (sic) (Accessed 31 January 2016)–2026: Richard BrandDiocese of Winchester — A new Archdeacon for Winchester (Accessed 11 October 2015) (also Archdeacon of Bournemouth, in plurality, from 2021 to 2023) 2026– : Simon Butler (designate, to be licensed August 2026)
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