Accounts of the Bishop of Winchester

Accounts of the bishopric of Winchester, compiled by the treasurer, Charles Dingley, 1683-1692, with other accounts for 1707 and 1761, and a leasehold book for property belonging to the bishop of Winchester, 1683-1765.

The diocese of Winchester is one of England's oldest sees. The bishops of Winchester possessed vast estates, stretching from Taunton in the west to Southwark in the east. Wolvesey was the Winchester palace of the Bishop of Winchester, who also had palaces at Farnham and Waltham. The original palace at Wolvesey was destroyed after the Civil Wars, and a new palace built in the 1680s.

Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761), was bishop of Winchester from 1734 to 1761. He was one of the most successful churchmen of his time, and was recognised as a leader of the low church party. He rose quickly through the ranks of clergy to become Bishop of Hereford in 1721, Bishop of Salisbury in 1723 and finally Bishop of Winchester in 1734, where he remained until his death in 1761. Charles Dingley was treasurer at Wolvesey by 1660, and remained in that position until 1699, when he was replaced by James Aston.

The collection is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

Purchased by the John Rylands Library at auction at Sotheby's on 20 December 1949 (Lot 497).

Description compiled by Jo Klett, project archivist, and Elizabeth Gow, Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts and Archives, with reference to:

• John Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1541-1857, vol. 3: Canterbury, Rochester and Winchester Dioceses, new edition compiled by Joyce M. Horn (London: Athlone Press for the Institute of Historical Research, 1974);
• Hampshire Record Office website at http://www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/.

Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1937-1951 (English MSS 1143, 1144).

Hampshire Record Office holds three manuscripts from the Phillipps Collection relating to the Winchester diocese, 1695-1829 (ref.: GB 041 7M49 ): a lawyer's precedent book, Phillipps MS 24196; a volume of miscellaneous items relating to the executorship of Lady Elizabeth Archer, Phillipps MS 18951; and a volume of miscellaneous papers mostly referring to the Bishopric of Winchester, Phillipps MS 19301.

These manuscripts were part of the collection of the great bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872); Phillipps MSS 24343 (Eng MS 1143) and 26002 (1144). The former was purchased by Phillipps at a Puttick & Simpson sale (pencil annotation inside front cover).

Hampshire Record Office holds records of the Diocese of Winchester, including account rolls of the manor of Wolvesey, compiled by Charles Dingley, treasurer, between 1660 and 1699 (ref.: GB 041 11M59/B2/30/11-41 ).