Global InformationList of places of worship in the City of Winchester District information
As of 2024, there are more than 140 current and former places of worship in the district of the City of Winchester in the English county of Hampshire. Christian denominations and groups of various descriptions use 108 churches, chapels and meeting halls for worship, and there is also a mosque for adherents of Islam; another 34 former churches and chapels no longer serve a religious function but survive in alternative uses. The City of Winchester is one of 13 local government districts in the county of Hampshire—a large county in central southern England, with a densely populated coastal fringe facing the English Channel and a more rural hinterland.[1] The district covers a large, mostly rural area in the centre of the county, focused on the ancient and historic cathedral city of Winchester—where a settlement existed by the Middle Iron Age, the first church was built in the mid-7th century, and the present inner-city street layout was established by Alfred the Great in the 880s.[2] In the surrounding area are small market towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, each with a variety of places of worship, and dozens of villages with medieval Church of England parish churches and, often, a Nonconformist chapel: various forms of Methodism were strong locally in the 19th and 20th centuries, and several Methodist chapels remain open.
The 2021 United Kingdom census found that, although not forming a majority, the largest percentage of the district's population was Christian. A large proportion of places of worship are churches belonging to the Church of England—the country's Established Church—but the Roman Catholic Church has an unbroken history locally even during the post-Reformation "penal era", and several Catholic churches are in use. Of the major Nonconformist denominations, Methodism was always the strongest locally—as late as 1940 there were 27 chapels in use—and, apart from one United Reformed congregation in Bishop's Waltham, worshipping communities of Baptists, the United Reformed Church, Quakers and The Salvation Army are confined to Winchester itself. Groups of Evangelicals, Open Brethren and Pentecostals linked to the Assemblies of God denomination also have their own places of worship; and several of Britain's smaller and less mainstream groups meet in the area as well, such as Christian Scientists, Latter-day Saints and members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, who have several meeting rooms.
Historic England or its predecessor English Heritage have awarded listed status to 70 current and nine former places of worship in the district. A building is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.[3] The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, a Government department, is responsible for this; Historic England, a non-departmental public body, acts as an agency of the department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues.[4] There are three grades of listing status. Grade I, the highest, is defined as being of "exceptional interest"; Grade II* is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and Grade II, the lowest, is used for buildings of "special interest".[5]
- ^ O'Brien et al. 2018, p. 1.
- ^ Bullen et al. 2010, pp. 557–559.
- ^ "Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (c. 9)". The UK Statute Law Database. Ministry of Justice. 24 May 1990. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ "What English Heritage Does". English Heritage. 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.