Church of England
Quick Facts
- Tradition
- Christianity · Protestant · Anglicanism
- Current leader
- Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally
- Leader since
- February 5th 2026
- Days in office
- –
Intro
The Church of England is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies and the historic mother church of the Anglican tradition. It traces its roots to early Christianity in Roman Britain and to Augustine of Canterbury's mission in 597. Its present form took shape during the English Reformation, when it broke from papal authority under Henry VIII and developed distinctive Anglican doctrine and worship. The British monarch is its supreme governor, while the Archbishop of Canterbury is its senior cleric. The church is organized through dioceses and parishes in England, the Crown Dependencies, and the Diocese in Europe.
Structure
The Church of England is organized into 42 dioceses. Thirty belong to the Province of Canterbury and 12 belong to the Province of York.
These dioceses cover England, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, a small part of Wales, and the Diocese in Europe. Each diocese has a cathedral, except Leeds, which has three co-equal cathedrals.
| Diocese | Territory | Cathedral | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath and Wells (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Somerset; North Somerset; Bath and North East Somerset; the parish of Thorncombe in Dorset | Wells Cathedral | 909 (Diocese of Wells) |
| Birmingham (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Birmingham; Sandwell except part of the north; Solihull except part of the east; part of Warwickshire; some parishes in Worcestershire | St Philip's Cathedral | 1905 |
| Blackburn (Bishop) |
York | Lancashire except part of the east and south, Liverpool, and Manchester; some parishes in Wigan | Blackburn Cathedral | 12 November 1926 |
| Bristol (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Bristol; southern two-thirds of South Gloucestershire; northern quarter of Wiltshire except part of the north; Swindon except part of the north and south; some parishes in Gloucestershire | Bristol Cathedral | 1542 |
| Canterbury (Archbishop) |
Canterbury | Kent east of Medway | Canterbury Cathedral | 597 |
| Carlisle (Bishop) |
York | Cumbria except Alston Moor (part of the Diocese of Newcastle), and the former Sedbergh Rural District (part of the Diocese of Leeds) | Carlisle Cathedral | 1133 |
| Chelmsford (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Essex except part of the north; part of East London north of the River Thames; part of South Cambridgeshire | Chelmsford Cathedral | 1914 |
| Chester (Bishop) |
York | Cheshire; the Wirral Peninsula; Halton south of the River Mersey; Warrington south of the River Mersey; Trafford except part of the north; Stockport except part of the north and east; the eastern half of Tameside; part of Derbyshire; part of Manchester; part of Flintshire | Chester Cathedral | 1541 |
| Chichester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | West Sussex except part of the north; East Sussex except part of the north; part of Kent | Chichester Cathedral | 1075 |
| Coventry (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Coventry; Warwickshire except part of the north, southwest, and south; part of Solihull | Coventry Cathedral | 1918 |
| Derby (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Derbyshire except part of the north; part of Stockport; part of Staffordshire | Derby Cathedral | 1927 |
| Durham (Bishop) |
York | Durham except part of the southwest and north; Gateshead; South Tyneside; Sunderland; Hartlepool; Darlington; Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees | Durham Cathedral | 990 |
| Ely (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Cambridgeshire except part of the northwest and south; the western quarter of Norfolk; part of Bedfordshire | Ely Cathedral | 1109 |
| Europe (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Europe except Great Britain and Ireland; Morocco; Turkey; the post-Soviet states in Asia | Gibraltar Cathedral | 21 August 1842 (Diocese of Gibraltar) 1980 (Diocese in Europe) |
| Exeter (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Devon except part of the southeast and west; Plymouth; Torbay | Exeter Cathedral | 1050 |
| Gloucester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Gloucestershire except part of the north, south, and east; the northern third of South Gloucestershire; part of Wiltshire; part of southwest Warwickshire; part of southern Worcestershire | Gloucester Cathedral | 1541 |
| Guildford (Bishop) |
Canterbury | The western two-thirds of Surrey south of the River Thames except part of the northeast; part of northeastern Hampshire; part of Greater London; part of West Sussex | Guildford Cathedral | 1927 |
| Hereford (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Herefordshire; the southern half of Shropshire; part of Powys and Monmouthshire | Hereford Cathedral | 676 |
| Leeds (Bishop) |
York | Ripon; Bradford; Leeds; Huddersfield; Wakefield | Co-equally: Ripon Cathedral, Wakefield Cathedral, Bradford Cathedral |
20 April 2014 |
| Leicester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Leicestershire; part of Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, and Warwickshire | Leicester Cathedral | 1926 |
| Lichfield (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Staffordshire except part of the southeast and southwest; the northern half of Shropshire; Wolverhampton; Walsall; the northern half of Sandwell | Lichfield Cathedral | 664 |
| Lincoln (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Lincolnshire; North East Lincolnshire; North Lincolnshire except part of the west | Lincoln Cathedral | 1074 |
| Liverpool (Bishop) |
York | Liverpool; Sefton; Knowsley; St Helens; Wigan except part of the north and east; Halton north of the River Mersey; most of West Lancashire | Liverpool Cathedral | 1880 |
| London (Bishop) |
Canterbury | The City of London; Greater London north of the River Thames except part of the east and north; Surrey north of the Thames; part of Hertfordshire | St Paul's Cathedral | 601 |
| Manchester (Bishop) |
York | Manchester except part of the south; Salford; Bolton; Bury; Rochdale; Oldham; the western half of Tameside; part of Wigan, Trafford, Stockport, and southern Lancashire | Manchester Cathedral | 1848 |
| Newcastle (Bishop) |
York | Northumberland; Newcastle upon Tyne; North Tyneside; part of eastern Cumbria; part of County Durham | Newcastle Cathedral | 1882 |
| Norwich (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Norfolk except part of the west; part of northeastern Suffolk | Norwich Cathedral | 1096 |
| Oxford (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Oxfordshire; Berkshire; Buckinghamshire; part of Hampshire and Hertfordshire | Christ Church Cathedral | 1542 |
| Peterborough (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Northamptonshire except part of the west; Rutland; Peterborough except part of the southeast; part of Lincolnshire | Peterborough Cathedral | 1541 |
| Portsmouth (Bishop) |
Canterbury | The southeastern third of Hampshire; the Isle of Wight | Portsmouth Cathedral | 1927 |
| Rochester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Kent west of the River Medway except part of the southwest; Medway; most of Bromley; Bexley; part of East Sussex | Rochester Cathedral | 604 |
| St Albans (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Hertfordshire except part of the south and west; Bedfordshire except part of the north and west; part of Greater London | St Albans Cathedral | 1877 |
| St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Suffolk except part of the northeast; part of Essex | St Edmundsbury Cathedral | 1914 |
| Salisbury (Bishop) |
Canterbury | The southern three quarters of Wiltshire; Dorset except part of the east; part of Hampshire and Devon | Salisbury Cathedral | 1078 |
| Sheffield (Bishop) |
York | Sheffield; Rotherham; Doncaster except part of the southeast; part of North Lincolnshire; part of northeastern Barnsley; part of the East Riding of Yorkshire | Sheffield Cathedral | 1914 |
| Sodor and Man (Bishop) |
York | The Isle of Man | Peel Cathedral | c. 1400 (English jurisdiction) 447 (first founded) |
| Southwark (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Greater London south of the River Thames except most of Bromley and Bexley and part of the southwest; the eastern third of Surrey | Southwark Cathedral | 1905 |
| Southwell and Nottingham (Bishop) |
York | Nottinghamshire; part of South Yorkshire | Southwell Minster | 1884 |
| Truro (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Cornwall; the Isles of Scilly; part of Devon | Truro Cathedral | 1877 |
| Winchester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Hampshire except the southeastern quarter and part of the northeast, west, and north; part of eastern Dorset; the Channel Islands | Winchester Cathedral | 662 |
| Worcester (Bishop) |
Canterbury | Worcestershire except part of the south and north; part of Wolverhampton, Sandwell, and northern Gloucestershire | Worcester Cathedral | 680 |
| York (Archbishop) |
York | York; East Riding of Yorkshire except part of the southwest; Kingston upon Hull; Redcar and Cleveland; Middlesbrough; the eastern half of North Yorkshire; Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees; part of Leeds | York Minster | 625 |
Click "Province" to sort dioceses alphabetically and "Founded" to sort by earliest listed founding year. Click the same header again to reverse the order.
Source(s)
Source: Image from Wikimedia Commons by Roger Harris. Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Source: Intro adapted from the Wikipedia article "Church of England". Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Source: Structure summary and dioceses table adapted from the Wikipedia article "List of Church of England dioceses". Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Logo from Wikimedia Commons ("Logo of the Church of England.svg"), sourced from the Church of England and marked public domain there as a simple text logo.