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The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries (and therefore including the Wirral the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside).[1] The cathedral is Chester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Chester.
[edit] History
The Diocese of Chester when created in 1541 showing the extent of the two archdeaconries that went to make it up.
The diocese was created during the Reformation in 1541 from the Chester archdeaconry of the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, covering Cheshire and Lancashire, and the Richmond Archdeaconry of the Diocese of York.[2] The diocese was originally formed as part of the Province of Canterbury, but was quickly transferred to the Province of York later in the same year.[2] The boundaries remained static until the early part of the nineteenth century when, starting in 1836, a series of boundary changes saw the diocese eventually greatly diminished in size so that its extent was almost the same as that of the ceremonial county of Cheshire as it existed just prior to 1974.[3][4] The deaneries as shown in the accompanying map, were established by 1224 and remained largely unchanged until the nineteenth century.[5]
The deaneries of the Diocese of Chester in about 1835, shortly before a series of boundary changes greatly diminished its size.
Starting in 1836, a sequence of five major boundary changes to the diocese began. In 1836, the deaneries of Boroughbridge, Catterick, and Richmond, and half of the deanery of Lonsdale were taken from Chester to form part of the newly created Diocese of Ripon which also had parts taken from the Diocese of York. In 1847, the deaneries of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, and Manchester, together with another large part of the deanery of Lonsdale and roughly one third of the deanery of Kendall were taken to form the then new Diocese of Manchester.[6] Additionally, part of the deanery of Warrington (Leigh)[7] was also transferred to this new Diocese of Manchester. At the same time, the deanery of Bangor was transferred to the Diocese of St. Asaph. This left the deaneries of Copeland, Furness, and the remaining parts of the deaneries of Kendall and Lonsdale detached from the main part of the diocese around Chester, provision was made to transfer these to the Diocese of Carlisle, but this required the assent of the then Bishop of Carlisle, or the appointment of a successor. In 1849, the part of the deanery of Chester that extended into Wales was transferred to the Diocese of St. Asaph. The detached deaneries in the north of Lancashire and in the Lake District were eventually transferred to the Diocese of Carlisle in 1856, on the appointment of Henry Villiers to the See.[8] Finally, in 1880, the remaining part of the deanery of Warrington was used to create the new Diocese of Liverpool. At that point, the Diocese of Chester had been reduced to its present size.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Map showing the areas of the Diocese of Chester which were transferred to other Dioceses in the 19th century, together with the dates on which they were transferred.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Diocese of Chester. Retrieval Date: September 30, 2007.
- ^ a b Elrington, C. R. (Ed.) (1980). page 12.
- ^ Elrington, C. R. (Ed.) (1980). page 64.
- ^ Dunn, F. I. (1987). page 9.
- ^ Dunn, F. I. (1987). page 8.
- ^ Later changes to the Diocese of Manchester led to part of it forming the Diocese of Blackburn
- ^ Elrington, C. R. (1980) (Ed.) page 63.
- ^ Bishop Henry Villiers was the successor to Bishop Percy (Elrington, C. R. (1980) (Ed.) page 63.)
- ^ Dunn, F. I. (1987). pages 8, 9.
- ^ Elrington, C. R. (Ed.) (1980). pages 63–65.
- ^ Church of England Statistics 2002. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 19427, pages 1765–1768, 7 October 1836. Retrieved on 2008-02-15. Creation of the Diocese of Ripon
- ^ London Gazette: no. 20265, pages 3173–3174, 29 September 1843. Retrieved on 2008-02-15. Internal reorganisation of the Diocese of Chester prior to the creation of the Diocese of Manchester
- ^ London Gazette: no. 20769, pages 3157–3160, 31 August 1847. Retrieved on 2008-02-15. Creation of the Diocese of Manchester
[edit] Bibliography
- Dunn, F. I. (1987). The ancient parishes, townships and chapelries of Cheshire. Chester: Cheshire Record Office and Cheshire Diocesan Record Office. ISBN 0906758149.
- Elrington, C. R. (Ed.) (1980). The Victoria history of the county of Chester, Volume III. Oxford: The University of London Institute of Historical Research (Oxford University Press). ISBN 0197227546.
