The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

in Wales. The cathedral is

Hereford Cathedral Hereford Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Hereford in Hereford, England. A place of worship has existed on the site of the present building since the 8th century or earlier. The present building was begun in 1079. S ...

and the bishop is the

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. The episcopal see is centred in the Hereford, City of Hereford where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is in the Hereford Cathedr ...

. The diocese is one of the oldest in England (created in 676 and based on the minor sub-kingdom of the Magonsæte) and is part of the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

Bishops

The diocesan

( Richard Jackson) was, until 2020, assisted by the Bishop suffragan of Ludlow (which see was created in 1981) — it has been announced that the suffragan See is not to be filled. The provincial episcopal visitor (for parishes in this diocese – among twelve others in the western part of the Province of Canterbury – who reject the ministry of priests who are women, since 1994) is the Bishop suffragan of Ebbsfleet, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there. Three retired bishops are licensed as assistant bishops in the diocese: Michael Westall ( Bishop of South West Tanganyika) lives in Kingstone, Herefordshire. David Thomson, ( Bishop of Huntingdon), lives in Hereford. Michael Bourke ( Bishop of Wolverhampton) also lives in the diocese.

Statistics

As reported in the Church of England's Statistics for Mission 2018, published in October 2019, the diocese had a population of 331,000, fewer than any other except

Sodor and Man The Diocese of Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets. Today, the bishop's office is in Douglas and the cathedral is in Peel. The diocese is ''not ...

. With 402 churches, the population per church was 820, the lowest of any diocese and less than 60% of the 1420 in the next lowest,

St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part o ...

. Average weekly church attendance was 8,700, a new low, down from 9,300 in 2017. The total worshipping community was estimated at 13,300, up from 11,700 in 2014, and 44% of these were aged over 70 years.

Archdeaconries and deaneries

The following deanery mergers have taken place: * Kington and Weobley before 1972 * Ross and Archenfield before 1979 *including Cathedral

Churches

''Last updated 25 November 2020.''

Outside deanery structures

Deanery of Abbeydore

Deanery of Bromyard

Deanery of Hereford

Deanery of Kington and Weobley

Closed churches in the area

Deanery of Ledbury

Deanery of Leominste

Deanery of Ross and Archenfield

Deanery of Bridgnorth

Deanery of Clun Forest

Deanery of Condover

Deanery of Ludlow

Deanery of Pontesbury

Deanery of Telford Severn Gorge

References

Sources

*''Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894)'' Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969 * ''Whitaker's Almanack'' 1883 to 2004, Joseph Whitaker and Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
Church of England Statistics 2002

External links

* {{authority control Diocese of Hereford, 676 establishments

Religion in Herefordshire 7th-century establishments in England