Sheffield, diocese of

views updated

Sheffield, diocese of. This see, comprising south Yorkshire, was created in 1914 out of the York diocese. Even by the 1870s Sheffield contained one-third of the York diocese's population and the inhabitants successfully resisted inclusion in the new Wakefield diocese of 1888. Though a suffragan see of Sheffield was established in 1901, only the rapid extension of the Doncaster coalfield enabled the passage of the Three Bishoprics Bill (for Sheffield, Chelmsford, and Bury St Edmunds) in 1913. Despite its long, thin, unnatural shape, with three distinct areas (possibly Doncaster would have been a better centre), the see was successfully welded together by the first two bishops, Leonard Burrows (1914–39) and Leslie Hunter (1939–62), the latter being particularly noted for his devotion to social welfare. The cathedral is the former Perpendicular parish church (c.1430), reconstructed in 1880, with further extensions completed in 1966.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

More From encyclopedia.com