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Proper form of address to UK clergy

Putting this in the England rather than Wales forum to hopefully get broader attention so that I can get a response on this question from UK residents.

In October, as part of a larger Euro tour, I want to return to the village in Wales that many generations of my father's family came from. When I visited there last year, I went on a weekday to visit the parish church and graveyard looking for family records and headstones. That turned out to be a dumb move on my part because the church was closed and locked up, no one was about, and the graveyard is huge with no apparent plan to "family plots" (at least not apparent to me). This is a really small village, and I just didn't think/plan enough to realize that there was a possibility no one would be around in the middle of a weekday. Duh on me.

For this second effort, I wanted to write to the church ahead of time and ask if there are any parish records I could look at or if there is a map/plan of the cemetery and when I might make an appointment to visit. This parish is so small it has no website, and all I was really able to obtain was an address for the church.

What would be the proper form of address to use to an unknown clergy for the Church of England? I don't want to give offense by using something inappropriate due to ignorance. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

Posted by
660 posts

I am assuming it would be Dear Vicar as it is a parish church.....??

Posted by
6113 posts

Most churches are locked these days due to the theft risk. Many churches don't have graveyard records. Several people maybe buried in the same grave, but future generations will be buried elsewhere in the same graveyard. More recently, people have been cremated rather than buried and their ashes are most likely buried at the local cemetery rather than in the parish church graveyard.

Most parish records are no longer kept in the parish, but at some larger district record centres. These maybe in a city 20 or 30 or more miles away.

Most churches have some form of website representation, even if this is just a general village website, which should give you an adress and contact details. Most rural parishes these days share vicars and they therefore may have a different contact address than the chapel in question.

You would address a letter to The Reverend XXXX if you knew the vicar's name or just to Dear Sirs if you don't.

Posted by
287 posts

Emma The church is in Llangendeirne, Carmarthenshire, St Cyndeyrn's Church. My father's family were there for hundreds of years until my grandfather left in the early 1900's.