Bishop of Lichfield facts for kids

The Bishop of Lichfield is an important leader in the Church of England. They are in charge of the Diocese of Lichfield, which is like a special area or region. This diocese covers parts of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, and the West Midlands.

The Bishop's main church, called a cathedral, is the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The Bishop lives at the Bishop's House, Lichfield, which is near the cathedral. The current Bishop is Michael Ipgrave. He became Bishop on 10 June 2016.

A Look Back: The History of Lichfield Bishops

The Anglo-Saxon dioceses before 925

The story of the Lichfield bishops began a long time ago, in the year 656. Back then, the area was known as Mercia, and Diuma was its first Bishop.

Later, in 669, a leader named Chad became Bishop. His main church was in Lichfield, so the area became known as the Diocese of Lichfield. In 691, this large area was split into smaller dioceses. These included Lichfield, Leicester, Lindsey, Worcester, and Hereford.

A Brief Time as an Archbishopric

For a short time, from 787 to 799, Lichfield was home to an archbishop. This happened during the time of Offa, who was a powerful King of Mercia. King Offa wanted his own church leader to be as important as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury was in Kent, which was not part of Offa's kingdom.

So, King Offa, with permission from Pope Adrian I, created a new archbishopric in Lichfield. This meant that the Archbishop of Lichfield, Hygeberht, was in charge of many bishops from the Humber River down to the Thames. However, this special arrangement only lasted for 16 years. After King Offa died, the title of Archbishop was given back to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Moving the Bishop's Seat

Over the centuries, the main location for the Bishop changed a few times.

• In 1075, the Bishop's seat moved to Chester.
• By 1102, it moved again to Coventry.
• From 1228, the official title became Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. This meant the Bishop had important churches in both cities.

After the English Reformation in the 1530s, the church in Coventry was taken down. Then, after King Charles II returned to power in 1660, the Bishop was called Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry.

Finally, in 1837, the old bishopric was divided. The area around Coventry became part of the see of Worcester. From then on, the leader has been known simply as the Bishop of Lichfield.

Who Were the Bishops?

Many important people have served as Bishop of Lichfield (or its earlier names) over the centuries. This table shows some of them, from the very first bishops of Mercia to the current Bishop of Lichfield.

Bishop of the Mercians
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
?	aft 655	Diuma	The first Bishop of Mercia.
dates unclear		Ceollach	Resigned and went back to Scotland.
c658	c 662	Trumhere	Abbot of Ingethling.
c 662	c 667	Jaruman
Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey people (based at Lichfield)
669	672	Chad	Saint Chad. His main church was in Lichfield.
Bishops of Lichfield
672	c674	Winfrith	The first bishop specifically of Lichfield.
c 676	bef 692	Seaxwulf	Also known as Saint Sexwulf.
691	bet 716–727	Headda
bef 731	737	Aldwine
737	bet 749–767	Witta
bef 757	765	Hemele
c 765	c 769	Cuthfrith	Died while in office.
c 769	bet 777–779	Berhthun	Died while in office.
779	787	Hygeberht	Became the Archbishop of Lichfield in 787.
Archbishop of Lichfield
787	799	Hygeberht	The only Archbishop of Lichfield.
Bishops of Lichfield
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
bet 799–801	bet 814–816	Ealdwulf	The title of Archbishop was no longer used.
bet 814–816	bet 817–818	Herewine
818	830	Æthelwold
830	bet 830–836	Hunberght
bet 830–836	bet 841–845	Cynefrith	Also known as Saint Cumbert.
bet 843–845	bet 857–862	Tunberht
bet 857–862	bet 866–869	Wulfsige
bet 866–869	bet 875–883	Eadberht
bet 875–883	bet 889–900	Wulfred
bet 889–900	bet 909–915	Wilferth
bet 903–915	bet 935–941	Ælfwine
bet 935–941	bet 946–949	Wulfgar
bet 946–949	bet 963–964	Cynesige
bet 963–964	975	Wynsige
975	bet 1002–1004	Elphege
bet 1002–1004	after 1017	Godwin
after 1017	bet 1026–1027	Leofgar
c 1027	1039	Brihtmær
1039	1053	Wulfsige
1053	1067	Leofwin	Abbot of Coventry.
1067	1075	Peter	Moved the main church to Chester.
Bishops of Chester
1075	1085	Peter
1086	1102	Robert de Limesey	Moved the main church to Coventry.
Bishops of Coventry
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1102	1117	Robert de Limesey	Died while in office.
1117	1121	No bishop for 4 years
1121	1126	Robert Peche	Died while in office.
1126	1129	No bishop for 2 years
1129	1148	Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry	The title started to include both cities.
1149	1159	Walter Durdent
1161	1182	Richard Peche
1183	1184	Gerard la Pucelle
1184	1188	No bishop
1188	1198	Hugh Nonant
1198	1208	Geoffrey de Muschamp
1208	1215	No bishop due to a church ban by Pope Innocent III.
1215	1223	William de Cornhill
1224	1228	Alexander de Stavenby	Became Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.
Bishops of Coventry and Lichfield
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1228	1238	Alexander de Stavenby	The first official Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.
1239		William de Raley	Elected but chose to be Bishop of Norwich instead.
1239		Nicholas Farnham	Elected but did not take the job.
1239		William de Manchester	Elected but did not take the job.
1239	December 1241	Hugh de Pateshull	Became Bishop after some disagreement.
December 1241	8 December 1241	Richard le Gras	Elected but died or declined.
December 1241	1245	No bishop
1243		Robert de Monte Pessulano	Elected but refused the job.
1245	1256	Roger Weseham	Appointed by the Pope.
1258	1295	Roger de Meyland
1296	1321	Walter Langton	Also served as Lord Treasurer.
1322	1358	Roger Northburgh	Also served as Lord Treasurer.
1360	1385	Robert de Stretton
1386	1386	Walter Skirlaw	Moved to another bishopric.
1386	1398	Richard le Scrope	Moved to be Archbishop of York.
1398	1414	John Burghill
1415	1419	John Catterick	Moved to another bishopric.
1419	1419	James Cary	Died before taking another job.
20 November 1420	13 March 1447	William Heyworth
1447	1452	William Booth	Moved to be Archbishop of York.
1452		Nicholas Close	Chancellor of Cambridge University.
1453	1459	Reginald Boulers
1459	1490	John Hales
1493	1496	William Smyth	Moved to another bishopric.
1496	1502	John Arundel	Moved to another bishopric.
1503	1531	Geoffrey Blythe
1534	1539	Rowland Lee	His title changed when Coventry Cathedral was closed.
Bishops of Lichfield and Coventry
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1539	1543	Rowland Lee	Continued as Bishop with the new title.
1543	1554	Richard Sampson
1554	1559	Ralph Baines	The last Roman Catholic Bishop of this area.
1560	1579	Thomas Bentham
1580	1609	William Overton
1609	1610	George Abbot George Abbot	Moved to be Bishop of London.
1610	1614	Richard Neile Richard Neile	Moved to another bishopric.
1614	1618	John Overall John Overall	Moved to another bishopric.
1619	1632	Thomas Morton Thomas Morton	Moved to another bishopric.
1632	1643	Robert Wright Robert Wright
1644	1646	Accepted Frewen Accepted Frewen	Lost his position when bishops were removed by Parliament.
1646	1660	The bishopric was stopped during the Commonwealth period.
1660	1660	Accepted Frewen Accepted Frewen	Returned to his position, then moved to be Archbishop of York.
1661	1670	John Hacket John Hacket
1671	1692	Thomas Wood Thomas Wood
1692	1699	William Lloyd William Lloyd	Moved to another bishopric.
1699	1717	John Hough John Hough	Moved to another bishopric.
1717	1730	Edward Chandler Edward Chandler	Moved to another bishopric.
1731	1749	Richard Smalbroke Richard Smalbroke
1750	1768	Frederick Cornwallis Frederick Cornwallis	Moved to be Archbishop of Canterbury.
1768	1771	John Egerton John Egerton	Moved to another bishopric.
1771	1774	Brownlow North Brownlow North	Moved to another bishopric.
1775	1781	Richard Hurd Richard Hurd	Moved to another bishopric.
1781	1824	James Cornwallis James Cornwallis	Died while in office.
10 March 1824	31 March 1836	Henry Ryder Henry Ryder	Died while in office.
3 July 1836	24 January 1837	Samuel Butler Samuel Butler	Became Bishop of Lichfield when the diocese was reorganized.
Bishops of Lichfield
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
24 January 1837	4 December 1839	Samuel Butler Samuel Butler	Died while in office.
23 January 1840	11 October 1843	James Bowstead James Bowstead
3 December 1843	19 October 1867	John Lonsdale John Lonsdale	Died while in office.
4 January 1868	11 April 1878	George Selwyn George Selwyn	Died while in office.
24 June 1878	28 July 1891	William Maclagan William Maclagan	Moved to be Archbishop of York.
29 September 1891	15 March 1913	Augustus Legge Augustus Legge	Died while in office.
13 June 1913	15 June 1937	John Kempthorne John Kempthorne
29 July 1937	11 January 1953	Edward Woods Edward Woods	Died while in office.
29 September 1953	1 December 1974	Stretton Reeve Stretton Reeve
2 January 1975	29 February 1984	Kenneth Skelton Kenneth Skelton	Retired from his role.
12 October 1984	2003	Keith Sutton Keith Sutton
2003	30 September 2015	Jonathan Gledhill Jonathan Gledhill
30 September 2015	10 June 2016	Clive Gregory Bishop of Wolverhampton	Served as acting bishop during this time.
10 June 2016	incumbent	Michael Ipgrave Michael Ipgrave	The current Bishop of Lichfield.

Assistant Bishops

Sometimes, other bishops help the main Bishop of Lichfield. These are called Assistant Bishops or coadjutor bishops. Here are a few examples:

• 1869–1880: Edmund Hobhouse, who was once a bishop in Nelson.
• 1870–1878: Charles Abraham, who was once a bishop in Wellington.
• 1882–1891: Charles Bromby, who was once a bishop in Tasmania.