The Diocese of Ripon (Diocese of Ripon and Leeds from 1999 until 2014) was a former

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 Britai ...

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

, part of 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 ...

. Immediately prior to its dissolution, it covered an area in western and northern

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

as well as the south Teesdale area administered by County Durham which is traditionally part of Yorkshire. The cities of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

were within its boundaries as were the towns of

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

, Richmond,

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is east of Harrogate. History Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Chenares ...

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

and Bedale and the surrounding countryside; its northern boundary was the River Tees. The diocesan

Bishop of Ripon The Bishop of Ripon is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. The bishop is one of the area bishops of the Diocese of Leeds in the Province of York. The area bishop of Ripon has oversight o ...

had his cathedral church at

. The diocese was also served by a suffragan Bishop of Knaresborough and was divided into two archdeaconries, those of Richmond and Leeds. For organizational purposes, the diocese was further divided into eight

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

: Richmond, Wensley,

, Allerton,

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industri ...

and

Whitkirk Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, England. It is situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west. The Temple Newsam estate lies directly sout ...

. The first four deaneries are located in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, and the latter four are in the Archdeaconry of Leeds. The former

Diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

covered an area of 1,359 square miles, with a range of urban and rural

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es, 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 The Vale of Mowbray (sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Vale of York) is a stretch of low-lying land between the North York Moors and the Hambleton Hills to the east and the Yorkshire Dales to the west. To the north lie the Cleveland low ...

, Eryholme on the southern bank of the River Tees and

Upper Nidderdale Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows south underground and then ...

high in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York w ...

History

The diocese of Ripon was originally created out of the dioceses of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

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 The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, and was erected on 5 October 1836 under the Established Church Act 1836. In a process which began with commission recommendations in 1989 and in 1997, included Diocesan Synod on 20 June 1998, General Synod approval in November 1998 and

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

in May 1999, the diocese was renamed 'The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds' in order to reflect the demographic importance of Leeds within its boundaries; the name change to effect on 3 September 1999, the day after David Young's retirement as bishop. The diocesan bishop's residence and offices and the diocesan offices were based in Leeds, while the cathedral remained

Ripon Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a monastery by monks of the Irish tradition in the 660s, i ...

; after 1999, the diocese was known as ''Ripon and Leeds diocese'', or, less often, ''Ripon diocese''. The central importance of Leeds to the area was further recognised in the eventual creation of the new Diocese of Leeds.

Future

On 2 March 2013, the diocesan synod voted in favour of proposals to abolish the diocese in order to create a larger Leeds diocese; the proposal was approved on 8 July 2013 by the General SynodThe Church of England – Synod approves new Diocese of Leeds for West Yorkshire and The Dales
/ref> and Ripon diocese was duly dissolved upon the creation of Leeds diocese on 20 April 2014.The Transformation Programme – First new diocese for more than 85 years created on April 20
(Accessed 19 April 2014)

References

Bibliography

Church of England Statistics 2002

External links

Diocese pageBradford and Ripon & Leeds Education Team
{{authority control Religious organizations established in 1836 * Christianity in North Yorkshire Christianity in West Yorkshire Ripon and Leeds Ripon and Leeds, Diocese of 1836 establishments in England 2014 disestablishments in England