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The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The current bishop is Nick Holtam,^[1][2] the 78th Bishop of Salisbury, who was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral on 22 July 2011 and enthroned in Salisbury Cathedral on 15 October 2011.^[3][4]

History

The Anglo-Saxon dioceses 950—1035

The Diocese of Sherborne (founded c. AD 705) was the origin of the present diocese; St Aldhelm was its first bishop. Ramsbury's diocese was created from the northwestern territory of the bishop of Winchester in 909.^[5]

The Anglo-Saxon Diocese of Sherborne was established by Saint Aldhelm in about 705 and comprised the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Cornwall. The diocese lost territory on the creation of the bishopric of Cornwall in the early 9th century, and lost further territory on the creation of the bishoprics of Wells and Crediton by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury in 909.

In 1058, the Sherborne chapter elected Herman of Ramsbury as their own bishop. He had previously complained of the poverty of his diocese to the extent that, when his plan to become abbot of Malmesbury was blocked by Earl Godwin in 1055, he had abandoned his duties and left to become a monk at St Bertin in France. Following the Norman conquest, the 1075 Council of London united his two sees as a single diocese and translated them to the then-larger settlement around the royal castle at Salisbury (Old Sarum). With papal approval, this was later removed to New Sarum (modern Salisbury) in the 1220s.

Herman of Wilton, bishop of both Ramsbury and then Sherborne,^[5] obtained approval from Edward the Confessor to transfer his seat to Malmesbury, but this plan was blocked by local monks and Earl Godwin.^[6] Instead, following the Norman conquest, the 1075 Council of London named him bishop of Sarisberie^[7] (Latin: Seriberiensis episcopus^[8]), which had been made a royal stronghold by William I. This was at Old Sarum. Disputes between Bishops Herbert and Richard Poore and the sheriffs of Wiltshire led to the removal of the see in the 1220s to a new site in the plain. This was chartered as the city of New Sarum by King Henry III in 1227,^[9] but it wasn't until the 14th century that the office was described (by Bishop Wyvil) as the bishop of Sarum (episcopus Sarum).^[10] The diocese, like the city it administers, is now known as Salisbury. The archdeaconry around Salisbury, however, retains the name of Sarum.

Reforms within the Church of England led to the annexation of Dorset from the abolished diocese of Bristol in 1836; Berkshire, however, was removed the same year and given to Oxford. In 1925 and 1974, new suffragan bishops were appointed to assist the Bishop of Salisbury; the new offices were titled the bishops of Sherborne and Ramsbury, respectively.^[5] Until 2009^[11] the bishops operated under an episcopal area scheme established in 1981, with each suffragan bishop having a formal geographical area of responsibility, and being known as "area bishops". The Bishop of Ramsbury had oversight of the diocese's parishes in Wiltshire, while the Bishop of Sherborne had oversight of the diocese's parishes in Dorset. This scheme was replaced to reflect the increased working across the whole diocese by all three bishops. The two suffragans may now legally function anywhere in the diocese, and the Bishop of Salisbury may delegate any of his functions to them. The Bishop of Salisbury's residence is now the South Canonry, near the Cathedral.^[12]

List of bishops

Pre-Reformation

During the Reformation

Post-Reformation

Bishops of Salisbury
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1559	1571	John Jewel	Died in office.
1571	1577	Edmund Gheast	Translated from Rochester. Also Lord High Almoner. Died in office.
1577	1589	John Piers	Translated from Rochester. Also Lord High Almoner. Afterwards translated to York
1589	1591	See vacant
1591	1596	John Coldwell	Formerly Dean of Rochester. Died in office.
1596	1598	See vacant
1598	1615	Henry Cotton	Formerly a Prebendary of Winchester. Died in office.
1615	1618	Robert Abbot	Formerly Master of Balliol College, Oxford. Died in office.
1618	1620	Martin Fotherby	Formerly a Prebendary of Canterbury. Died in office.
1620	1621	Robert Tounson	Also recorded as Robert Townson, Toulson, or Thompson. Formerly Dean of Westminster. Died in office.
1621	1641	John Davenant	Formerly President of Queens' College, Cambridge. Died in office.
1641	1646	Brian Duppa	Translated from Chichester. Deprived of the see when the episcopacy was abolished by Parliament.
1646	1660	See abolished during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate.[20][21]
1660		Brian Duppa (restored)	Reinstated on the restoration of the episcopacy. Afterwards translated to Winchester.
1660	1663	Humphrey Henchman	Formerly Precentor of Salisbury. Translated to London.
1663	1665	John Earle	Translated from Worcester. Died in office.
1665	1667	Alexander Hyde	Formerly Dean of Winchester. Died in office.
1667	1689	Seth Ward	Translated from Exeter. Died in office.
1689	1715	Gilbert Burnet	Formerly Preacher at the Rolls Chapel. Died in office.
1715	1721	William Talbot	Translated from Oxford. Afterwards translated to Durham.
1721	1723	Richard Willis	Translated from Gloucester. Afterwards translated to Winchester.
1723	1734	Benjamin Hoadly	Translated from Hereford. Afterwards translated to Winchester.
1734	1748	Thomas Sherlock	Translated from Bangor. Afterwards translated to London.
1748	1757	John Gilbert	Translated from Llandaff. Afterwards translated to York.
1757	1761	John Thomas (I.)	Translated from Peterborough. Afterwards translated to Winchester
1761		Robert Hay Drummond	Translated from St Asaph. Afterwards translated to York.
1761	1766	John Thomas (II.)	Translated from Lincoln. Died in office.
1766	1782	John Hume	Translated from Oxford. Died in office.
1782	1791	Shute Barrington	Translated from Llandaff. Afterwards translated to Durham.
1791	1807	John Douglas	Translated from Carlisle. Died in office
1807	1825	John Fisher	Translated from Exeter. Died in office.
1825	1837	Thomas Burgess	Translated from St David's. Died in office.
1837	1854	Edward Denison	Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. Died in office.
1854	1869	Walter Kerr Hamilton	Formerly a Canon-resident and Precentor of Salisbury. Died in office.
1869	1885	George Moberly	Formerly a Canon of Chester. Died in office.
1885	1911	John Wordsworth	Oriel Professor of Divinity, Oxford. Founder of Bishop Wordsworth's School. Died in office.
1911	1921	Frederick Ridgeway	Translated from Kensington. Died in office.
1921	1935	St Clair Donaldson	Translated from Brisbane. Died in office.
1936	1946	Neville Lovett	Translated from Portsmouth. Retired.
1946	1948	Geoffrey Lunt	Translated from Ripon. Died in office.
1949	1962	William Anderson	Translated from Portsmouth. Retired.
1963	1972	Joseph Fison	Died in office.
1973	1981	George Reindorp	Translated from Guildford. Retired.
1982	1993	John Baker	Retired.
1993	2010	David Stancliffe	Retired.
2011	incumbent	Nicholas Holtam	Nominated on 12 April,[1][2] consecrated on 22 July,[3] and installed on 15 October 2011.[4]
Source(s):[13][18][22]

References

Bibliography

External links

• Official website