| Diocese of Ripon and Leeds | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Ecclesiastical province | York |
| Archdeaconries | Richmond, Leeds |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 161 |
| Churches | 269 |
| Information | |
| Cathedral | Ripon Cathedral |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds |
| Suffragan | James Bell, Bishop of Knaresborough |
| Archdeacons | Peter Burrows, Archdeacon of Leeds Janet Henderson, Archdeacon of Richmond |
| Website | |
| riponleeds.anglican.org | |
The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers an area in western and northern Yorkshire as well as the south Teesdale area administered by County Durham which is traditionally part of Yorkshire. The cities of Ripon and Leeds are within its boundaries as are the towns of Harrogate, Richmond, Knaresborough, Hawes and Bedale and the surrounding countryside. Its northern boundary is the River Tees.
The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds has his cathedral church at Ripon. The diocese is also served by a suffragan Bishop of Knaresborough and is divided into two archdeaconries, those of Richmond and Leeds. For organizational purposes, the diocese is further divided into eight deaneries: Richmond, Wensley, Ripon, Harrogate, Allerton, Headingley, Armley and Whitkirk. The first four deaneries are located in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, and the latter four are in the Archdeaconry of Leeds.
The Diocese covers an area of 1,359 square miles, with a range of urban and rural parishes, these range from urban areas like Holbeck and Armley with New Wortley, urban centres like Ripon and Richmond and rural parishes like Danby Wiske with Hutton Bonneville in the Vale of Mowbray, Eryholme on the southern bank of the River Tees and Upper Nidderdale high in the Yorkshire Dales.
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The diocese of Ripon was originally created out of the dioceses of York and Chester in 1836 with Charles Thomas Longley consecrated as its first bishop. It was the first diocese to be created in England after the Reformation, and was erected under the Established Church Act 1836.
On 3 September 1999 the diocese was renamed 'The Diocese of Ripon & Leeds' in order to reflect the demographic importance of Leeds within its boundaries.
Under the Dioceses Commission's Draft Reorganisation Scheme, the Diocese and See of Ripon and Leeds would be entirely dissolved to facilitate the creation of a new Anglican Diocese of Leeds. The Archdeaconry of Richmond would expand into the current Archdeaconry of Craven (Diocese of Bradford) and be renamed the Archdeaconry of Richmond and Craven, in the Ripon Episcopal Area; and the Archdeaconry of Leeds would be transferred to the Leeds episcopal area. The suffragan see of Knaresborough would be transfered to Ripon, and Ripon Cathedral would become one seat for the new diocesan bishop of Leeds (his or her other equal seats being Bradford Cathedral, Wakefield Cathedral and a possible Leeds Pro-Cathedral). The Canons from the Colleges of the three cathedrals would merge into a new diocesan College, the Deans of each would retain day-to-day authority in their own cathedral, while one would become presiding dean of the College (initially the senior one by tenure – i.e. David Ison, Dean of Bradford – but later the one appointed by the diocesan bishop).[1]
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