About us

Founded in 676AD, the Diocese of Winchester is one of the five senior dioceses of the Church of England.  The Diocese 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 Southampton, Eastleigh, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Andover and Basingstoke.

Rt Revd Tim Dakin, the Bishop of Winchester is our Diocesan Bishop supported by Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, the Suffragan Bishop of Southampton and Rt Revd David Williams the Suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke.

There are two archdeaconries, Winchester in the north and Bournemouth in the south, each administered by one of our Archdeacons.