OUR HISTORY AND PARISH PRIESTS
The Church of All Saints at Newland, traditionally and affectionately known as the 'Cathedral of the Forest', was begun in the early 1200s.
King John appointed Robert of Wakering as first Rector in 1216. The original, probably rather small, building was expanded during the next two hundred years to the size and shape of the present church.
A major restoration in the 1860s widened the chancel arch and slightly raised the roof of the nave. The village of Newland did not exist before the clearing was made in the Forest and the church built.
Parish Priests
It is difficult to unravel the very early history of actual pastoral coverage. 'Rectors' are noted earlier in the thirteenth century, but these would have delegated actual pastoral care to other priests, subsequently called 'Vicars'. As the Church kept no record of such appointments until the end of the thirteenth century we have no means of knowing the names of those who were the parish priests before 1279.
The list of vicars is as accurate as we can get at present — even here it should be noted that other priests operated in and from the church and its various chapels whose names are not recorded in the earlier centuries.
During the Commonwealth of the seventeenth century 'lecturer' were appointed to replace the local vicar. In the case of Newland this post was attached to the William Jones Almshouses. It would appear that after the relatively short hiatus, and the following restoration of the monarchy (Charles II) both vicar and lecturer existed in apparent harmony — some, in later centuries, becoming the Vicar.
There were also, from at least the eighteenth century, 'Curates' (technically 'assistant curates') operating in the ancient parish and the smaller parish of the late nineteenth and into the twentieth century — the names of such appear occasionally in the registers of burials and marriages.
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1279 Richard of Acton
1310 John of Hanbury
1312 Adam of Bristol
1334 Philip Hanard
1335 Robert of Coventry
1349 William of Newenton
1351 Nicholas Brut
1356 Richard of Lodebrok
1387 Roger Crok
1392 Richard Wormebrugge
1394 Henry Ffouleshurst
1395 Richard Pere
1400 Roger Stoke
1402 William Loupere
1410 John Vrynell
1417 Richard Honeychurch
1419 Robert Burneby
1419 William Styward
1420 John Orvelle
1420 Henry Wodestoke
1426 John Hyscocke
1428 John Kew
1428 Richard Dobyns
1428 Thomas Brampston
1476 Edward Janyns
1492 - 1504: No records
1510 James Moore
1531 John Quarre
1559 John Smithe
1562 William Jones
1602 Robert Robotham
1611 Nathaniel Baxter
1613 Thomas Godwin
1615 John Hughes
1615 William Hughes
1650 Peter Symonds
1654 Francis Ford
1657 Samuel Fawcett
1662 William Hughes
1679 Samuel Harris
1710 Morgan Evans
1737 John Harris
1740 Evan Eustace
1746 Peregrine Ball
1794 John Probyn
1796 Richard Watson Moor
1797 Robert Gibson
1803 Payler Matthew Procter
1822 Henry Douglas
1832 George Ridout
1871 William Smith
1888 Alexander Nairne Scott
1895 Ranulph Hamilton Evered
1922 John Griffin
1945 Horace Hugh Hook
1949 Loftus Aylmer-Kelly
1953 Ernest Henry Tucker
1959 William Lloyd-Jones
1965 Charles Lawrence
1973 Ronald John Mobley
1981 David J. F. Addison
2006 David .I. Lawrence
2012 Sarah Bick