Diocese of London Dioecesis Londiniensis | |
---|---|
Location | |
Ecclesiastical province | Canterbury |
Archdeaconries | London; Middlesex; Hampstead; Hackney; Northolt; Charing Cross |
Statistics | |
Area | 460 km2 (180 sq mi) |
Parishes | 403 [1] |
Churches | 475 [1] |
Information | |
Established | 4th Century |
Cathedral | St Paul's |
Co-cathedral | Westminster Abbey (1550–1556 only) |
Patron saint | Saint Paul |
Language | English |
Current leadership | |
Bishop | Sarah Mullally |
Suffragans | Jonathan Baker, Bishop of Fulham Emma Ineson, area Bishop of Kensington Ric Thorpe, Bishop of Islington Joanne Grenfell, area Bishop of Stepney Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, area Bishop of Willesden Anderson Jeremiah, area Bishop-designate of Edmonton |
Archdeacons | Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London; John Hawkins, Archdeacon of Hampstead Richard Frank, Archdeacon of Middlesex Catherine Pickford, Archdeacon of Northolt Peter Farley-Moore, Archdeacon of Hackney Katherine Hedderly, Archdeacon-designate of Charing Cross |
Website | |
london.anglican.org |
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
It lies directly north of the Thames, covering 177 square miles (460 km2) and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of Middlesex. It includes the City of London in which lies its cathedral, St Paul's, and also encompasses Spelthorne which is currently administered by Surrey. It encompasses most of that part of Greater London which lies north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea.
The diocese covered all of Essex until 1846 when Essex became part of the Diocese of Rochester, after which St Albans and since 1914 forms the Diocese of Chelmsford. It also formerly took in southern and eastern parts of Hertfordshire.
The Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales (1835), noted the annual net income for the London see was £13,929. [2] This made it the third wealthiest diocese in England after Canterbury and Durham.
Following the huge growth of the metropolis and its population in the 19th century, successive Bishops of London successfully campaigned for the appointment of several suffragan bishops to assist them in the care of the northern half of what became the County of London and later Greater London. A system of assigning "districts" to these suffragans evolved into an experimental area scheme in 1970. [3] An archbishop's commission on the diocesan arrangements in Greater London was established in 1975 and chaired by Edmund Compton; [4] its report considered but did not recommend forming all Greater London into an ecclesiastical province. [5]
Since the formal institution of the London area scheme (the first of its kind) in 1979, [6] the diocese has been divided into five episcopal areas, each of which is the particular responsibility of one of the diocese's suffragan bishops. It is further divided into archdeaconries and deaneries, as shown below.
Episcopal area | Archdeaconry | Deaneries |
---|---|---|
Two Cities Episcopal Area | Archdeaconry of London | Deanery of the City of London |
Archdeaconry of Charing Cross | Deanery of Westminster Paddington | |
Deanery of Westminster St Margaret | ||
Deanery of Westminster St Marylebone | ||
Edmonton Episcopal Area (area Bishop of Edmonton) | Archdeaconry of Hampstead | Deanery of Central Barnet |
Deanery of West Barnet | ||
Deanery of North Camden (Hampstead) | ||
Deanery of South Camden (St Pancras and Holborn) | ||
Deanery of Enfield | ||
Deanery of East Haringey | ||
Deanery of West Haringey | ||
Kensington Episcopal Area (area Bishop of Kensington) | Archdeaconry of Middlesex | Deanery of Hammersmith and Fulham |
Deanery of Hampton | ||
Deanery of Hounslow | ||
Deanery of Kensington | ||
Deanery of Chelsea | ||
Deanery of Spelthorne | ||
Stepney Episcopal Area (area Bishop of Stepney) | Archdeaconry of Hackney | Deanery of Hackney |
Deanery of Islington | ||
Deanery of Tower Hamlets | ||
Willesden Episcopal Area (area Bishop of Willesden) | Archdeaconry of Northolt | Deanery of Brent |
Deanery of Ealing | ||
Deanery of Harrow | ||
Deanery of Hillingdon |
Under the London area scheme the diocesan bishop, the Bishop of London retains oversight of the two cities of London and Westminster while the four area bishops have responsibility in their own episcopal areas. The suffragan see of Stepney was created in 1895, Kensington in 1901, Willesden in 1911 and Edmonton in 1970. The suffragan see of Marlborough existed from 1888 to 1918. On 1 May 2015, it was announced [7] that Richard Chartres' (then-Bishop of London) proposal to take the See of Islington out of abeyance for the appointment of a "bishop for church plants" [8] would go ahead. Ric Thorpe was consecrated bishop suffragan of Islington on 29 September 2015.
Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese which do not accept the ordination of women as priests) is provided by a fifth suffragan bishop, Jonathan Baker, Bishop of Fulham, who has the same ministry in the Southwark and Rochester dioceses. During a lengthy vacancy in that see, alternative episcopal oversight was offered by the area Bishop of Edmonton.
There are also several retired bishops living in the diocese, some of whom are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:
The London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS) has responsibility for 155 Church of England schools within the London diocese, across 18 local authorities. [16]
In December 2022, Martin Sargeant, formerly Head of Operations in the Two Cities, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to five years in prison for defrauding the London Diocese of £5.2m. [17]
The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, commonly known as the Bishop in Europe, is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese in Europe in the Province of Canterbury.
The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Diocese of Rochester that was served by a suffragan bishop of Southwark (1891–1905). Before 1877 most of the area was part of the Diocese of Winchester, some being part of the Diocese of London.
The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in the English county of Kent and the Province of Canterbury. The cathedral church of the diocese is Rochester Cathedral in the former city of Rochester. The bishop's Latin episcopal signature is: " (firstname) Roffen", Roffensis being the genitive case of the Latin name of the see.
The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest see of the Church of England.
The Bishop of Bedford is an episcopal title used by a Church of England suffragan bishop who, under the direction of the Diocesan Bishop of St Albans, oversees 150 parishes in Luton and Bedfordshire.
The Bishop of Stepney is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Stepney, an inner-city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The post is held by Joanne Grenfell whose consecration as bishop, and start of her tenure as Bishop of Stepney, was on 3 July 2019 at St Paul's Cathedral; the principal consecrator was Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The Bishop of Southwark is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark in the Province of Canterbury.
The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (cathedra) is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his election to the See on 6 July 2016.
The Bishop of Edmonton is an episcopal title used by an area bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Edmonton, an area in the North of the London Borough of Enfield; the See was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Order in Council dated 29 May 1970.
Trevor Willmott is a British retired bishop in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Basingstoke from 2002 to 2009 and then Bishop of Dover from 2010 until his retirement in 2019. In retirement, he remains bishop for the Channel Islands.
The Archdeacon of West Cumberland is responsible for the archdeaconry of West Cumberland, one of three administrative divisions of the Church of England (Anglican) Diocese of Carlisle. The archdeaconry was created by Order-in-Council on 7 August 1959.
Andrew John "Andy" Radford 26 January 1944 – 21 May 2006) was an Anglican Evangelical bishop and religious broadcaster. He served the Church of England as Bishop of Taunton from 1998 until his death eight years later.
The Bishop of Islington is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England.
Colin Clement Walter James was an Anglican bishop in the Church of England, successively suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke, then the Bishop of Winchester.
The Archdeacons in the Diocese of Southwark are senior clergy in the Church of England in South London and Surrey. They currently include: the archdeacons of Southwark, of Reigate and of Lewisham & Greenwich, the Archdeacon of Croydon and the archdeacons of Wandsworth and of Lambeth. Each one has responsibility over a geographical area within the diocese.
The Archdeacon of Croydon is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Southwark. As such the deacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within its five rural deaneries: Croydon Addington, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Croydon South and Sutton.
The Anglican Bishop of Santiago is a bishop in the Anglican communion, the head of the Anglican Diocese of Santiago within the Anglican Church of Chile. Until 2018, the bishop and diocese were "of Chile", in the Anglican Church of South America.