from the lychgate

History of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Christ Church, Emery Down – the legal bit

1864: On 1st November HM Queen Victoria signed an Order in Council which assigned ‘the consecrated church called Christ Church, situate in Emery Down’ as ‘The District Chapelry of Christ Church, Emery Down’. The Order described the placement of boundary stones to separate the new chapelry from the Chapelry of Lyndhurst and divide it from the Parish of Minstead. 1973: On 16th February HM Queen Elizabeth II signed an Order in Council to confirm a Scheme made by the Church Commissioners under Pastoral Measure 1968 ‘uniting the benefices of Lyndhurst and Christ Church, Emery Down’. 1999: On 11th May HM Queen Elizabeth II signed an Order in Council confirming a Scheme made by the Church Commissioners under Pastoral Measure 1983 to transfer the Parish of Minstead from the ‘benefice of Copythorne and Minstead’ to the benefice of Lyndhurst and Emery Down and thereby rename it as ‘Benefice of Lyndhurst and Emery Down and Minstead’. 2024: On 4th March the Church Commissioners with the Bishop of Winchester’s consent, made a Mission and Pastoral Scheme to unite the three parishes as ‘The Parish of Lyndhurst and Emery Down and Minstead’ with the three churches continuing to have parish church status.