The first cathedral church was probably built immediately prior to Chad becoming the 5th bishop of Mercia by King Wulfere and Bishop Wilfrid or completed when he arrived in Licetfelda in 669. Strictly the origin of the diocese started with the appointment of Diuma, the 1st bishop of Mercia around the year 656. The geographical boundaries of this undeveloped diocese would not have been determined, but could have been north of what is now Manchester, down a border in Wales not far from the western mountains or along the River Severn and having a southern border close to the Thames. The eastern boundary might have been the coast and extended to the River Humber. This was a huge diocese and the majority was uncolonized and various tribes had rudimentary beliefs. The diocese might have been the developing kingdom of Mercia determined by the rule of the Mercian kings.
By the time of the Council of Hertford, 672, there were 7 sees and Lichfield was the sixth to be formed. Canterbury and Rochester were small, London medium and Dunwich a little larger. Winchester, York and Lichfield were large and the new Archbishop, Theodore of Tarsus, wanted their subdivision.[1] He failed to divide Winchester, but managed to split Dunwich into north and south Elmham. He succeeded in reducing Mercia by allowing Lindsey (Lincolnshire) to move to York, 674. In 680, the area of Worcestershire became the diocese of Worcester and Herefordshire had a new centre at Hereford. There is evidence that new bishoprics were attempted to be formed from the southern part of Mercia. New bishoprics in Leicestershire appeared and a see was finally formed in 737. Leicester diocese became the see for the Middle Angles according to documents at the Council of Clofeshoh in 803. A new bishop of Dorchester appears to rule over Mercian territory in the Oxfordshire region, 675-85.[2] Around 674, Theodore deprived Winfrith, bishop of Lichfield, of his see and, perhaps, this was a consequence of the diocese being split in many ways.
The
subdivision of Mercia into at least 7 dioceses by late 8th-century and the
reign of King Offa. The see of Lichfield remained the same until Reformation
and 1541. Thanks to M. Christie, Wikipedia, in Public Domain.
From 1228 until the dissolution
of the Cathedral Priory of Coventry in 1539 Lichfield Cathedral and the
Benedictine priory church of Coventry managed a diocese stretching from the
Ribble in Lancashire to Edgehill in south-east Warwickshire. It was called
'Coventry and Lichfield' until the mid-17th century and then 'Lichfield and
Coventry' until 1836. It extended from the mouth of the River Ribble in
Lancashire and along the river to the Yorkshire border. It then covered
Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire southwards to the
Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border. It then followed the eastern and southern
area of Derbyshire and the eastern side of Staffordshire and Warwickshire as
far as Ratley in south Warwickshire. The boundary then moved north-westwards
through Warwickshire including Leamington, Kenilworth and Solihull, but not
Warwick. The boundary with Hereford diocese roughly followed the course of the
River Severn through Shropshire, with island parishes (Clent, Broom, Rowley
Regis, Amblecote, Old Swinford) out of the diocese. The diocese included
detached parts of Flintshire, Chester and Denbighshire (Hanmer, Overton,
Bangor, Iscoed, Worthenbury, Penley, Holt and Hawarden).
In summary,
from 1541 until 1836, the diocese covered Staffordshire, Derbyshire, northern
Shropshire and northern and eastern Warwickshire.
In 1541, the diocese of Chester was created. Parishes in
south Lancashire, Cheshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire were transferred to
this new diocese.
In 1837, the archdeaconry of Coventry was transferred to the
diocese of Worcester. Tamworth stayed with Lichfield. In 1918, a new diocese of
Coventry was created.
In 1846, the Bridgnorth deanery transferred to the diocese
of Hereford.
In 1884, the archdeaconry of Derby transferred to the new
diocese of Southwell.
In 1905, on the creation of the diocese of Birmingham, the
rural deanery of Handsworth, including the ancient parishes of Handsworth and
Harborne (Staffs, later Warks), was transferred to the new diocese.
Early in the 20th-century parts of Shropshire were
transferred to Hereford and St Asaph.
Diocesan
coat-of-arms and flag.
Today the
diocese serves a population of just over 2 million people in an area of 4,516
km2 or 1,744 miles2. It has over 540 churches in 424
parishes with around 500 clergy. Neighbouring parishes are in groups of about a
dozen within 28 deaneries. Groups of deaneries are collected into an
archdeaconry, led by an Area Bishop and an Archdeacon under the care of the
Diocesan Bishop.[3]
[1]
F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: 1971), 134.
[2]
Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book 4, chapter 23. J. McClure and R.
Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford:
2008), 211.
[3]
Current website, https://www.lichfield.anglican.org/about-us/
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