Six seen in garden prior to church confirmation? (8)
I believe the answer is:
evidence
'confirmation?' is the definition.
(confirmation is a kind of evidence)
'six seen in garden prior to church' is the wordplay.
'six' becomes 'vi' ('vi' can be a synonym of 'six').
'seen in' indicates putting letters inside.
'garden' becomes 'eden' (I've seen this before**).
'prior to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'vi' placed inside 'eden' is 'eviden'.
'eviden'+'ce'='EVIDENCE'
(Other definitions for evidence that I've seen before include "The basis for belief or disbelief" , "Facts given in court" , "Facts on which to establish verdict" , "Facts presented in court" , "authentication" .)