MARRIAGE LICENCES
The purpose of a marriage licence is to dispense with the need for banns to be called in church. Modern marriage licences date back to the 1533 Ecclesiastical Licences Act, when Henry VIII’s break with Rome removed the possibility of obtaining a papal dispensation.
After the Reformation, there were two sorts of licences – ‘special’ and ‘common’. A special licence was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury and allowed a marriage to take place any time
