The Diocese of Exeter is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

covering the county of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

. It 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 consi ...

. The diocesan bishop ( Mike Harrison) is assisted by two

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

s, the Bishop of Crediton and the Bishop of Plymouth. The See of Crediton was created in 1897 and the See of Plymouth in 1923.

History

The Diocese of Crediton was created out of the Diocese of Sherborne in AD 909 to cover the area of

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...

was chosen as the site for its cathedral, possibly due it having been the birthplace of

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

and also the existence of a monastery there.Exeter: Ecclesiastical History
. Retrieved 5 June 2008. In 1046, Leofric became the Bishop of Crediton: following his appointment he decided that the see should be moved to the larger, more culturally significant and defensible walled town of

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. In 1050, King

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

authorised that Exeter was to be the seat of the bishop for Devon and Cornwall and that a cathedral was to be built there for the bishop's throne. Thus, Leofric became the last diocesan Bishop of Crediton and the first

. The diocese remained unchanged until 1876, when the former Archdeaconry of Cornwall became the independent

Diocese of Truro The Diocese of Truro (established 1876) is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury which covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and a small part of Devon. The bishop's seat is at Truro Cathedral. Geography and history The d ...

Organisation

Bishops

The

is Mike Harrison; James Grier, Bishop suffragan of Plymouth and a Bishop suffragan of Crediton (vacant; Moira Astin is bishop-designate). The

provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

(for parishes in this diocese – among twelve others in the western part of the Province of Canterbury – which do not accept the ordination of women as priests, since 1994) is the Bishop suffragan of Oswestry (for traditional Anglo-Catholics), and Rod Thomas,

Bishop of Maidstone The Bishop of Maidstone is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the county town of Maidstone in Kent. Canterbury suff ...

(for Conservative Evangelicals); they are licensed as honorary assistant bishops in the diocese. There are three former bishops licensed as honorary assistant bishops in the diocese: *2005–present:

Richard Hawkins Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins (or Hawkyns) (c. 1562 – 17 April 1622) was a 17th-century English seaman, explorer and privateer. He was the son of Admiral Sir John Hawkins. Biography He was from his earlier days familiar with ships and the ...

, retired former Bishop suffragan of Plymouth and of Crediton, lives in Whipton. *2010–present: Martin Shaw, a retired former Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, lives in

itself. *2018–present: Mark Rylands, former Bishop of Shrewsbury, lives in Ashburton

Archdeaconries and deaneries

The diocese is divided into four archdeaconries. The Bishop suffragan of Crediton generally oversees the Archdeaconries of Barnstaple and Exeter and the Bishop suffragan of Plymouth the Archdeaconries of Plymouth and Totnes. The following mergers of deaneries have taken place: * the deaneries of Tiverton and Cullompton merged in 2012 to form the deanery of Tiverton & Cullompton * the deaneries of Devonport, Moorside and Sutton merged in 2015 to form the deanery of Plymouth City. *including Cathedral

Coat of arms

The arms of the diocese are Gules two keys in saltire Or a sword hilt downwards in pale Argent with hilt Or surmounted by a mitre. The charges are emblems of Saints Peter (keys) and Paul (sword) who are the patron saints of the cathedral.''Exeter Diocese: Resources'' in "CCEd, the Clergy of the Church of England database" (Accesse
online
5 February 2014)

List of churches

''Last fully updated 5 October 2018.''

Outside deanery structures

Deanery of Aylesbeare

Deanery of Cadbury

¹part of the North Creedy West Mission Community ²part of the North Creedy East Mission Community

Deanery of Christianity

¹part of the East Exeter Mission Community ²part of the West Exe Mission Community

Deanery of Honiton

Deanery of Kenn

Deanery of Ottery

Deanery of Tiverton & Cullompton

¹part of the Tiverton Mission Community

Deanery of Moreton

¹part of the Bovey Valley Mission Community

Deanery of Newton Abbot and Ipplepen

¹part of the Abbotskerswell Mission Community

Deanery of Okehampton

Deanery of Torbay

¹part of the Our Lady & All the Saints Mission Community ²part of the West Torquay Mission Community ³part of the All Saints & St Luke Mission Community

Deanery of Totnes

¹part of the Three Rivers Mission Community

Deanery of Woodleigh

Deanery of Barnstaple

¹part of the Coast and Combe Mission Community (which also includes the parishes of Berrynarbor and Combe Martin from Shirwell deanery) ²part of the Barnstaple Mission Community

Deanery of Hartland

Deanery of Holsworthy

¹part of the Holsworthy Mission Community

Deanery of Shirwell

¹part of the Coast and 'Combe Mission Community (which also includes seven churches from Barnstaple deanery) ²part of the Lyn Valley Mission Community

Deanery of South Molton

Deanery of Torrington

¹part of the Winkleigh Mission Community

Deanery of Ivybridge

¹part of the South Dartmoor Mission Community ²part of the Yealm & Erme Mission Community ³part of the Yealmside Mission Community

Deanery of Plymouth City

¹part of the Holy Family Mission Community ²part of the Sacred Heart Mission Community

Deanery of Tavistock

¹part of the Tamar Mission Community ²part of the Tavy Mission Community

References

External links

Diocese of Exeter
– from the Catholic Encyclopedia
Diocesan prayer diaries giving lists of Mission Communities within the diocese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diocese Of Exeter

Exeter Christianity in Devon Christianity in Cornwall