| Description | EDP/1-325 The parish bundles comprise papers relating to the clergy of the parish, to the church fabric, to the parsonage house and glebe, and include miscellaneous documents dealing with parish affairs both ecclesiastical and secular.
Clergymen's nominations, presentations, letters testimonial, etc 16th-20th century form the bulk of the series, these have been brought together in chronological order for each parish. For the majority of the parishes there are citations to lead to faculties, in most cases accompanied by related plans, mainly late 19th century. Grouped together under the heading 'Dilapidations' are surveyors' reports and Bishop's orders for repairs under the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Acts, 1871 and 1872.
The miscellaneous documents include licences for the performance of divine service in buildings other than the church, grants by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, commissions to allot pews, plans of churches, mortgages to Queen Anne's Bounty, tables of fees, parish clerks' licences, and papers relating to parish schools and schoolmasters.
Chaplaincies for Chester Castle Gaol, Chester City Gaol and Chester Infirmary have, for convenience been listed under the heading 'Chester: miscellanea'.
The indexes EDP 314, relate to the bundles as they were stored in the Diocesan Registry.
Later additions comprise faculty papers only, kept as administered by the Diocesan Registry and include a copy of the faculty, copy certificates issued by the Diocesan Advisory Committee and documents required by them in consideration of the application. Between 1974 and 1997 these have also been organised by parish name. From 1998 onwards they are organised by year and application number and can be located by parish name using Faculty Registers.
If a faculty cannot be found for a particular parish EDP 7767 should be checked for the years 1992-2000. |