Archdeacons in the Diocese of Southwark


The Archdeacons in the Diocese of Southwark are senior clergy in the Church of England in South London and Surrey. They currently include: the archdeacons of Southwark, of Reigate and of Lewisham & Greenwich, the Archdeacon of Croydon and the archdeacons of Wandsworth and of Lambeth. Each one has responsibility over a geographical area within the diocese.

History

The Diocese of Southwark was created on 1 May 1905 from two Diocese of Rochester archdeaconries: the archdeaconry of Southwark and the archdeaconry of Kingston-on-Thames. Parts of Surrey had first been transferred to Rochester diocese on 1 August 1877, and were organised into the Southwark archdeaconry on 3 May 1878. In 1864, the Bishop of Winchester had split the rural deanery of Southwark into three: Lambeth, Southwark, and Streatham. The Kingston archdeaconry was then created by Order in Council soon after, on 22 August 1879, by splitting the archdeaconry of Southwark: the new Kingston archdeaconry consisted of the rural deaneries of Barnes, Beddington, Godstone, Kingston, Reigate, and Streatham; and the continuing Southwark one those of Battersea, Camberwell, Clapham, Kennington, Lambeth, Newington, and Southwark. Lewisham rural deanery was erected, and other deanery boundaries altered, in early 1886.
Not long after the erection of the Diocese of Southwark, the new archdeaconry of Lewisham was created, on 6 March 1906, from part of the Southwark archdeaconry and part of the diocese not then in an archdeaconry.
The archdeaconry of Wandsworth was created in 1973, the Croydon archdeaconry was moved from the Diocese of Canterbury on 1 January 1985. In 1986, the archdeaconry of Reigate was created from a renaming and reorganisation of the previous archdeaconry of Kingston-on-Thames and the archdeaconry of Lambeth was created from Southwark archdeaconry. Lewisham archdeaconry was renamed the Archdeaconry of Lewisham & Greenwich in 2008.

Current composition

, the six archdeaconries of the Diocese of Southwark comprise the following 24 deaneries:
  • Archdeaconry of Southwark: Deaneries of Bermondsey, of Camberwell, of Dulwich, and of Southwark & Newington
  • Archdeaconry of Reigate: Deaneries of Tandridge, of Reigate, and of Sutton
  • Archdeaconry of Lewisham & Greenwich: Deaneries of Charlton, of Deptford, of East Lewisham, of Eltham & Mottingham, of Plumstead, and of West Lewisham
  • Archdeaconry of Croydon: Deaneries of Croydon Addington, of Croydon Central, of Croydon North, and of Croydon South
  • Archdeaconry of Wandsworth: Deaneries of Battersea, of Kingston, of Richmond & Barnes, of Tooting, and of Wandsworth
  • Archdeaconry of Lambeth: Deaneries of Lambeth North, of Lambeth South, and of Merton

List of archdeacons

Archdeacons of Southwark

Archdeacons of Kingston-on-Thames and of Reigate

Archdeacons of Lewisham and of Lewisham & Greenwich

Archdeacons of Wandsworth

Archdeacons of Lambeth