The Bishop of Blackburn is the Ordinary of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Diocese of Blackburn The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created on 12 November 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley, the cities of Lancast ...

in the

Province of York The Province of York, or less formally the Northern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England and consists of 12 dioceses which cover the northern third of England and the Isle of Man. York was elevated to ...

. The diocese covers much of the county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and has its

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

in the town of Blackburn, where the seat of the diocese is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary. Despite having a cathedral Blackburn is not a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. The office has existed since the foundation of the see from part of the Diocese of Manchester in 1926 under

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

. The See is currently vacant following the retirement of

Julian Henderson Julian Tudor Henderson (born 23 July 1954) is a retired British Anglican bishop. From 2013 to 2022, he was the Bishop of Blackburn, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Blackburn in the Church of England. From 2005 to 2013, he was the Archdeaco ...

on 31 August 2022; in the vacancy,

Philip North Philip John North (born 2 December 1966) is a bishop in the Church of England. Since February 2015, he has been Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. He was previously team rector of the parish of Old St Pancras. O ...

, the Bishop suffragan of Burnley, is also acting diocesan bishop. The bishop's residence is Bishop's House,

Salesbury Salesbury is a village and civil parish in Ribble Valley, located centrally in the county of Lancashire, England. The B6245 road runs straight through the village providing transport links to towns such as Blackburn, Preston and Burnley. Sales ...

. On 10 January 2023, it was announced that North had been nominated to become the next diocesan bishop.

List of bishops

Assistant bishops

Among those who have served as assistant bishops in the diocese were: *19821999 (d.): Ken Giggall (former Bishop of St Helena and Auxiliary Bishop of Gibraltar) retired to

Lytham Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

*19922000 (ret.):

Donald Nestor Donald Patrick Nestor (6 October 1938 – 10 January 2003) was a British suffragan bishop in Lesotho, a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa from 1979. In 1992 he returned to England to serve as an Assistant Bishop of Blackburn and ...

, Priest-in-Charge of

Bretherton Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 669. Its name suggests pre-con ...

and former Suffragan Bishop of Lesotho

References

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

* Lancashire-related lists {{Anglicanism-stub