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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

Learn more
History: About Us
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