Diocese of London
{{Short description|Diocese of the Church of England}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Diocese of Essex|the modern diocese in Essex|Diocese of Chelmsford}}
{{Infobox diocese
| jurisdiction = Diocese
| name = London
| latin = Dioecesis Londiniensis
| coat = Diocese of London arms.svg
| coat_size = 150px
| flag = Flag of the Diocese of London.svg
| flag_size = 150px
| province = Canterbury
| area_km2 = 460
| established = 4th Century
| patron = Saint Paul
| bishop = {{nowrap|Sarah Mullally}}
| cathedral = St Paul's
| cocathedral = Westminster Abbey (1550–1556 only)
| language = English
| archdeaconries = London; Middlesex; Hampstead; Hackney; Northolt; Charing Cross
| 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 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 of Charing Cross
| website = {{url|http://www.london.anglican.org/|london.anglican.org}}
}}{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}Image:Diocese of London Survey by John Harris 1714.jpg lay in this diocese, the rest in the Diocese of Lincoln; the whole county is in the Diocese of Saint Albans today.]]
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 {{convert|177|sqmi|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.The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.III, London, Charles Knight, 1847, p.362 This made it the third wealthiest diocese in England after Canterbury and Durham.
Organisation
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.{{Church Times | title = Virtual autonomy for London's ‘area bishops’? | archive = 1970_02_20_01 | issue = 5584 | date = 20 February 1970 | page = 1 | accessed = 29 September 2020 }} An archbishop's commission on the diocesan arrangements in Greater London was established in 1975 and chaired by Edmund Compton;{{Church Times | title = Commission for London | archive = 1975_10_10_020 | issue = 5878 | date = 10 October 1975 | page = 20 | accessed = 4 January 2021 }} its report considered but did not recommend forming all Greater London into an ecclesiastical province.{{Church Times | title = Provincial status for London is ruled out | archive = 1976_07_09_003 | issue = 5917 | date = 9 July 1976 | page = 3 | accessed = 4 January 2021 }}
Since the formal institution of the London area scheme (the first of its kind) in 1979,{{cite web|title=4: The Dioceses Commission, 1978–2002
|url=http://www.churchofengland.org/media/40670/chapter4.pdf|publisher=Church of England|access-date=23 April 2013}} 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.
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Episcopal area !Archdeaconry !Deaneries |
| rowspan="4" |Two Cities Episcopal Area
|Deanery of the City of London |
| rowspan="3" |Archdeaconry of Charing Cross
|Deanery of Westminster Paddington |
| Deanery of Westminster St Margaret |
| Deanery of Westminster St Marylebone |
| rowspan="7" |Edmonton Episcopal Area
(area Bishop of Edmonton) | rowspan="7" |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 |
| rowspan="6" |Kensington Episcopal Area
(area Bishop of Kensington) | rowspan="6" |Archdeaconry of Middlesex |Deanery of Hammersmith and Fulham |
| Deanery of Hampton |
| Deanery of Hounslow |
| Deanery of Kensington |
| Deanery of Chelsea |
| Deanery of Spelthorne |
| rowspan="3" |Stepney Episcopal Area
(area Bishop of Stepney) | rowspan="3" |Archdeaconry of Hackney |Deanery of Hackney |
| Deanery of Islington |
| Deanery of Tower Hamlets |
| rowspan="4" |Willesden Episcopal Area
(area Bishop of Willesden) | rowspan="4" |Archdeaconry of Northolt |Deanery of Brent |
| Deanery of Ealing |
| Deanery of Harrow |
| Deanery of Hillingdon |
=Bishops=
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[http://www.london.anglican.org/articles/the-revival-of-the-see-of-islington/ Diocese of London — The Revival of the See of Islington] (Accessed 1 May 2015) 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"{{Church Times | title = Chartres sets out plan for ‘Bishop for church-plants’ | url = http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/6-march/news/uk/chartres-sets-out-plan-for-bishop-for-church-plants | issue = 7929 | date = 6 March 2015 | page = | accessed = 25 March 2015 }} 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 then-area Bishop of Edmonton.
There are also several retired bishops living in the diocese, some of whom are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:
- 1984–present: Michael Marshall, former suffragan Bishop of Woolwich, lives in Chelsea and is also licensed as an honorary assistant bishop in Chichester diocese.{{Who's Who
| title=Marshall, Michael Eric
| id = U26743
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- 2002–present: Edward Holland, retired Bishop of Colchester, lives in Hammersmith and is also licensed in the Diocese in Europe.{{Who's Who
| title=Holland, Edward
| id = U11416
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- 2003–present: Walter Makhulu, Archbishop emeritus of Central Africa and retired Bishop of Botswana, lives in Putney.{{Who's Who
| title=Makhulu, Walter Paul Khotso
| id = U10520
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- 2006–present: Sandy Millar, a former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is also an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.{{Who's Who
| title=Millar, John Alexander Kirkpatrick (Sandy)
| id = U27471
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- 2009–present: Robert Ladds, former Bishop suffragan of Whitby, lives in Hendon.{{Who's Who
| title=Ladds, Robert Sidney
| id = U39532
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- 2013–present: Michael Colclough, retired canon pastor of St Paul's Cathedral and former bishop of Kensington, lives in Chelsea. He is also licensed in the diocese in Europe.{{Who's Who
| title=Colclough, Michael John
| id = U22903
| volume = 2014
| edition = December 2013 online
| access-date = 26 April 2014
}}
- July 2014{{snd}}present: Stephen Platten, former rector of St Michael Cornhill and retired bishop of Wakefield (also in Southwark and Newcastle dioceses.){{Church Times | title = Appointments | url = http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/2-january/gazette/appointments/appointments | issue = 7920 | date = 2 January 2014 | page = 31 | accessed = 2 January 2015 }}
Schools
The London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS) has responsibility for 155 Church of England schools within the London diocese, across 18 local authorities.LDBS https://www.ldbs.co.uk/our-schools/
Fraud
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.He had built up close contacts within the Church of England. Around January 2002, he was renting a flat at St. George’s in the East Church, London E1OBH when Gillean Craig was Rector. Reference : GOV.Uk:”MARTIN SARGEANT (dissolve)
Secretary, CONSULTANT, 2002.02.01 - 2003.07.01
3 SAINT GEORGES IN THE EAST CHURCH
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.london.anglican.org Diocesan website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20051027192157/http://www.london.anglican.org/Structure Map] from the diocesan website
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100315140115/http://www.westminsterstmargaret.org/ Westminster (St Margaret) Deanery Synod]}}
{{Province of Canterbury}}
{{Office holders in the Diocese of London}}{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|51.5138|-0.0986|type:adm2nd_dim:150000_region:GB|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diocese Of London}}