The Archdeacon of Ashford is a senior office-holder in the

Diocese of Canterbury The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest see of the Church of England. The ''Report ...

(a division of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

). The

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest that oversees the Archdeaconry of Ashford, which is one of three subdivisions of the diocese. The first incumbent was

Philip Down Philip Roy Down (born 28 March 1953) is a retired priest in the Church of England. He served as the Archdeacon of Maidstone and then the first Archdeacon of Ashford, both in the Diocese of Canterbury. Life in Australia Down was born and raised in ...

, who was collated Archdeacon of Ashford on 13 March 2011 and who retired effective 15 October 2017. The second and current archdeacon is Darren Miller, who was collated on 13 January 2018.

History

The archdeaconry was created under the Pastoral Measure 1983, by

Trevor Willmott Trevor Willmott (born 29 March 1950) is a British retired bishop in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Basingstoke (one of two suffragan bishops in the Diocese of Winchester) from 2002 to 2009 and then Bishop of Dover (''de facto'' ...

Bishop of Dover The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent. The Bishop of Dover holds the additional title of "Bishop in ...

(exercising the functions of diocesan bishop delegated by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

) on 1 February 2011. At the same time, it was decided that Down (then

Archdeacon of Maidstone The Archdeacon of Maidstone is an office-holder in the Diocese of Canterbury (one of the dioceses of the Province of Canterbury in the Church of England). The Archdeacon of Maidstone is an Anglican priest who oversees the Archdeaconry of Maidsto ...

) would transfer to the newly created role.

Composition

The archdeaconry covers a central and eastern portion the diocese. , the archdeaconry of Ashford consists the following deaneries in the

:Canterbury Diocese – Archdeaconry of Ashford
/ref> *Deanery of Ashford *Deanery of Dover *Deanery of Elham *Deanery of Romney and Tenterden *Deanery of Sandwich

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashford, Archdeacons of Anglican ecclesiastical offices Church of England Archdeacon of Ashdown