Mark Campbell Ireland (born 5 April 1960) is a British retired Anglican priest who served as

Archdeacon of Blackburn The Archdeacon of Blackburn is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Blackburn. Originally created on 17 August 1877 within the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Manchester, the office became a part of the new Diocese of B ...

from 2016 until his 2025 retirement. Ireland was educated at

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

and Wycliffe Hall Oxford; and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1985. He was a director of Saltmine Trust (company 02930528) from 2005 to 2008. After curacies in

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 River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

he held incumbencies in

Baxenden Baxenden is a village and ward in the Borough of Hyndburn in Lancashire, North-West England. The ward population taken at the 2011 census was 4,042. History Whilst people have inhabited the site for centuries, most of the village dates fro ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

with Eyton before his

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

's appointment. He is a member of the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

. In relation to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, Ireland has stated: "I want to maintain the church's traditional doctrine of marriage, but also to belong to a church that truly welcomes and includes gay and lesbian people." Ireland retired April 2025.

References

Archdeacons of Blackburn 1960 births Living people Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Members of the General Synod of the Church of England {{York-archdeacon-stub