Soon after the Church of England was founded in the 16th century, in 1549 Thomas Cranmer complied the Book of Common Prayer in English and this has been the ‘Gold Standard’ of the Church of England ever since although it was revised in 1552 and, again, in 1662. A further revision was made in 1928 but was never officially sanctioned.
Most of the services in the Benefice follow the order of the Book of Common Prayer, 1662. There are some wonderful prayers in this book which will be instantly recognisable to anyone with their faith steeped in the Church Of England prior to about 1970. Since then, we have had a series of modern services: series 1, series 2, series 3, Alternative Services Book and now Common Worship, which happily includes the Communion Service from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
