Church of England parishes and benefices

In centuries past, each parish in England would have had its own incumbent (the vicar or rector in charge of the parish), but more recently reductions in church attendance and income have forced many parishes to work together under a single incumbent as a multi-parish benefice. In 1960 17% of parishes in England were part of a multi-parish benefice, whereas (as of 2019) it is 62%. (One source claims the number was 71% in 2011, but I don't know how they got that number. My figures won't include parishes in which the church has been closed completely, but they don't count as part of any benefice so can't affect that number.) Many rural areas have benefices with over a dozen parishes and churches, and each year more are amalgamated to form larger benefices usually under a single priest, perhaps with a curate (newly-ordained training priest) or occasionally other clergy.

Using the data from achurchnearyou (as of 2019), use the links below to find the total number of benefices, parishes and (Anglican) churches in a given diocese/archdeaconry/deanery/benefice, but also the benefices with the most churches.

To use the site, click on a diocese to list the archdeaconries into which it is divided. Archdeaconries are in turn divided into deaneries, which consist of benefices, which consist of parishes. Many parishes now have more than one Anglican church. (There are a couple of instances of single parishes in London with two benefices, but otherwise it's a strict hierarchy.) On any page the second table lists the benefices with the most churches for the restrictions you've selected so far and selecting a benefice will list the parishes within that benefice.

The Church of England's 'Diocese in Europe' is included for completeness, but its benefices are unusual in that they can span multiple European countries and of course have no 'parish', so can be ignored for the purposes of looking at multi-parish benefices.

 

 

Diocese	Archdeaconries	Deaneries	Benefices	Parishes	Churches
Bath & Wells	3	19	178	462	558
Birmingham	2	12	139	150	182
Blackburn	2	14	178	233	271
Bristol	2	7	106	165	199
Canterbury	3	15	102	219	316
Carlisle	3	11	109	234	327
Chelmsford	7	24	305	467	576
Chester	2	18	213	265	340
Chichester	4	21	275	359	474
Coventry	2	11	122	199	239
Derby	2	8	144	254	312
Durham	3	14	172	210	264
Ely	2	15	154	305	329
Europe	7	8	8	8	265
Exeter	4	22	158	488	598
Gloucester	2	9	91	297	379
Guildford	2	12	139	159	211
Hereford	2	13	80	337	400
Leeds	5	25	279	449	592
Leicester	2	10	106	243	309
Lichfield	4	28	239	422	541
Lincoln	3	22	179	482	625
Liverpool	4	15	134	196	235
London	6	24	404	410	481
Manchester	4	20	177	254	305
Newcastle	2	12	128	169	235
Norwich	3	20	162	545	636
Oxford	4	29	284	607	810
Peterborough	2	12	125	349	377
Portsmouth	3	7	116	137	166
Rochester	3	17	181	215	260
Salisbury	4	19	135	437	566
Sheffield	2	12	142	172	208
Sodor and Man	1	4	14	15	39
Southwark	6	25	254	294	352
Southwell & Nottingham	2	9	144	238	295
St.Albans	3	20	192	336	404
St.Edmundsbury & Ipswich	3	18	116	442	477
Truro	2	12	105	213	301
Winchester	3	15	175	291	398
Worcester	2	13	90	168	272
York	3	21	238	443	583
Totals	130	662	6792	12338	15707

 

62.42% of parishes are part of multi-parish benefices

 

Benefices with the most churches

Benefice	Churches
Gibraltar	74
France	64
Eastern	33
Bolingbroke Deanery	30
Retford Area Team Ministry	28
North West Europe	27
South Cotswold Team Ministry	22
Leominster	22
Italy and Malta	21
Launditch and The Upper Nar	19
Scandinavia	19
Wilford Peninsula	18
Switzerland	18
Three Valleys	17
The Winchcombe Team Ministry	16
Nadder Valley (Team Ministry)	16
Vale of Pewsey	16
North Hinckford	15
Papworth	15
Cheriton Fitzpaine, Woolfardisworthy, Kennerleigh,	15