Catalogue description VISITATION PAPERS

This series includes churchwardens' presentments for the Archdeaconries of Southwark, Lewisham and Kingston, 1906, 1941-1950, 1952-1955, and 1964-1968; presentments for Lewisham, 1956, 1958 and 1960; presentments for Kingston, 1958; churchwardens' certificates 1943-1963, 1970-1974; inhibitions 1919, 1929, 1936; and the election of churchwardens, 1941.

Visitation was the process by which the bishop enquired into the state of each parish within his diocese, checking and correcting any perceived abuses or lapses in practice. Churchwardens for each parish were required to answer printed questionnaires which were then submitted prior to the visitation. Used from the late sixteenth century as a means of enforcing the Elizabethan Religious Settlement and of combating perceived lapses in the morals of parishioners, by the twentieth century, subjects of concern related mostly to the general upkeep of the church buildings and churchyard, information about fixtures and fittings, and information relating to insurance and other financial matters. During the Second World War churchwardens were asked to record whether or not their church buildings had suffered any bomb damage.

See also Visitation Books DS/VB and Visitation Call Books DS/VR

This series is currently uncatalogued as of August 2003. Please contact London Metropolitan Archives for further information. Access is by permission of the diocesan registrar for presentments less than fifty years old. All other files are open

Deposited by Southwark Diocesan Registry, AC/63/50, AC/65/6, AC/65/11, AC/66/21, AC/69/62, and AC/75/109