Our Benefice:
We are officially known as “The United Benefice of Ropley, Bishop’s Sutton and West Tisted”
Our Churches:
Alresford Deanery
The United Benefice of Ropley, Bishop’s Sutton and West Tisted is a part of the Alresford Deanery which comprises the parishes of:
Avington, Beauworth, Bighton, Bishop’s Sutton, Bradley, Bramdean, Brown Candover, Cheriton, Chilton Candover, Cliddesden, Dummer, Easton, Ellisfield, Farleigh Wallop, Hinton Ampner, Itchen Abbas, Itchen Stoke, Kilmeston, Martyr Worthy, New Alresford, Northington, Nutley, Old Alresford, Ovington, Preston Candover, Ropley, Swarraton, Tichborne, West Tisted, Wield
The Diocese of Winchester
Founded in 676AD the Diocese of Winchester consists of about two-thirds of the County of Hampshire and most of Bournemouth in the County of Dorset, excluding Portsmouth and the area immediately to its north and north-east.
Stretching from the beaches of Bournemouth to the edges of Surrey suburbia, and from the River Hamble to the outskirts of Newbury, the area covers 1048 square miles with a population of 1.27m. Whilst much of the diocese is rural there are significant urban concentrations in Winchester, Southampton, Eastleigh, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Andover and Basingstoke.
There are two archdeaconries, Winchester in the north and Bournemouth in the south, administered by our Archdeacon. Each archdeaconry is then separated into administrative areas called deaneries, 7 in Winchester and 6 in Bournemouth.
Winchester Diocese has 357 Churches in 255 Parishes, combined into 141 Benefices (2022)
The Church of England
Winchester is one of the five senior dioceses of the Church of England. The Church of England is made up of 42 Dioceses in total. Each of the English dioceses (and the Diocese in Europe) has a structure of boards and councils responsible for different aspects of the Church’s work including ministry, mission and education.
The Church of England has over 16,000 church buildings in England, 12,500 of which are listed by Historic England.