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The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers an area in western and northern Yorkshire as well as the south Teesdale area administered by County Durham which is tradionally part of Yorkshire. The cities of Ripon and Leeds are within its boundaries as are the towns of Harrogate, Richmond, Knaresborough, Hawes and Bedale and the surrounding countryside. Its northern boundary is the River Tees.
It is headed by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, and its cathedral-church is at Ripon. The diocese is also served by a suffragan Bishop of Knaresborough and two archdeacons at Richmond and Leeds. For organizational purposes, the diocese is divided into eight deaneries: Richmond, Wensley, Ripon, Harrogate, Allerton, Headingley, Armley and Whitkirk. The first four deaneries are located in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, and the latter four are in the Archdeaconry of Leeds.
The Diocese covers an area of 1,359 square miles, with a range of urban and rural parishes, these range from deprived 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, Eryholme on the southern bank of the River Tees and Upper Nidderdale high in the Yorkshire Dales.
[edit] History
The diocese of Ripon was originally created out of the dioceses of York and Diocese of 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, and was erected under the Established Church Act 1836.
On September 3, 1999 the diocese was renamed 'The Diocese of Ripon & Leeds' in order to reflect the demographic importance of Leeds within its boundaries.
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