List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells

The ecclesiastical parishes within the Diocese of Bath and Wells cover the majority of the English county of Somerset and small areas of Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells in Somerset.

Diocese of Bath and Wells
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Canterbury
Archdeaconries	Bath, Wells, Taunton
Statistics
Parishes	477
Churches	569
Information
Cathedral	Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew
Current leadership
Bishop	Michael Beasley, Bishop of Bath and Wells
Suffragan	Ruth Worsley, Bishop of Taunton[1]
Archdeacons	Simon Hill, Archdeacon of Taunton Anne Gell, Archdeacon of Wells Adrian Youings, Archdeacon of Bath
Website
bathandwells.org.uk

The diocesan offices, the bishops' offices and residences and the cathedral are all located around the Bishop's Palace in Wells. The diocese is not referred to as "Bath diocese" or "Wells diocese", but as "Bath and Wells diocese".^[2] The ordinary of the diocese is the diocesan Bishop of Bath and Wells, Michael Beasley; he is assisted throughout the diocese by the Bishop suffragan of Taunton, Ruth Worsley. Her See was created in 1911.

Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese that reject the ministry of women priests) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), the Bishop suffragan of Ebbsfleet, Jonathan Goodall. He is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.^[3]

The parish with its local parish church is the basic unit of the Church of England. The parish within the Church of England structure has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church and survived the Reformation largely untouched. Church of England parishes are currently each within one of 44 dioceses divided between the provinces of Canterbury, with 30 dioceses, and York with 14. In 2017 there were approximately 12,600 Church of England parishes in all, with 477 being within this diocese.^[4]

Each parish is administered by a parish priest who may be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates, who are also ordained but not parish priests. There are wide variations in the size of parishes and church-going populations. A parish priest may have responsibility for one parish or for two or more, and some are part of a team ministry. By extension, the term parish refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation. A benefice or "living" in the Church of England describes any ecclesiastical parish or group of ecclesiastical parishes under a single stipendiary minister.^[5] The holder of a benefice owns the "freehold" of the post (the church and the parsonage house) for life.

Until the late 19th century, the parishes were the smallest area for local government and administrative functions. Following the Local Government Act 1894, the civil duties of the church were abolished and separate civil parishes were established.^[6] As a result of the different needs of the civil community and the church, in many cases the boundaries of the ecclesiastical parishes and their equivalent civil parish have diverged with time.