on Monday, 1 December 2025 at 11.21 am by Peter Owen
categorised as Church of England, News
The Revd Canon Dr Philip Hobday has been appointed as the next Dean of Wakefield; he is currently the sub-dean. Details are on the Leeds diocesan website and on the cathedral website. He will be installed on Saturday 07 March 2026.
Not too long ago Bradford and Wakefield Cathedrals had Provosts, and Ripon Cathedral had a Dean. The first two are former parish Churches, Ripon on the other hand as a Saxon foundation is a clear front-runner to be sole cathedral. This won’t happen, but the number of bishops, deans, archdeacons, and cathedral canons is embarassing.
Manchester and Ripon were the first 19th century sees to be created. Both new cathedrals were collegiate churches which already had deans and chapters, so elevating them to cathedral status was relatively straightforward.
Be grateful you are not in the United Dioceses of Tuam, Killala, Achonry, Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly.
Let’s not be too judgmental. If you squint a bit all these cathedrals in Leeds Diocese are simply resource churches with a lot more bling, a much larger analog synthesiser and a better dressed music group and clergy.
Analog synthesiser? Surely you mean digital synthesiser, analogue synthesisers were made out of discrete components with transistors, resistors, capacitors, which constructed oscillators and filters. There were no digital elements.
Whereas digital synthesisers use digital processors and work in the digital domain.
I think a performance of performance in a cathedral may be a step too far.
Possibly naïve of me, but I assumed this ‘much larger analog synthesiser’ was a humorous alias for the cathedral pipe organ and ‘music group’ the choirs, organists and music directors.
Ripon has a particularly fine organ and Wakefield’s boasts five manuals, albeit that size alone doesn’t define a great instrument.
The opus Dei is maintained at all three cathedrals. When the Leeds diocese was proposed there was a suggestion that Leeds Minster might serve as the pro-Cathedral, but, so far as I am aware, it seems nothing came of that idea.
I think Anglican in Exile’s comment could be interpreted in many ways! I was being pedantic, but I care about these things, having build a large analogue synthesiser in the 1970’s and played the real pipe organ. I took an interest at one time in developing physical models of a pipe organ, using digital processing tools from Native Instruments.
Digital organs used in churches often used sample of real organs. However, I understand modern research has led to physical modelling of pipes, which I was trying out (unsuccessfully) in the 1970’s.
I don’t know the organ of Bradford Cathedral, hence not commenting specifically about it. Ripon’s pipe organ is of the ‘Rolls Royce’ calibre, something which the then president of the Royal College of Organists said to me about Winchester Cathedral organ (I’m aware of similar claims made by others elsewhere). Viscount have supplied temporary electronic organs at several cathedrals (including Canterbury, Winchester and Gloucester) recently while the pipe organ was undergoing restoration. I have no experience in this field, but have visited both Henry Willis & Sons and Harrison & Harrison who continue to produce and restore superlative pipe organs… Read more »
I think, if you’ll pardon the expression, it’s what you do with them that counts. Cathedrals are not required to have an enormous paid staff simply by virtue of status. They can cut their cloth to fit, same as an other church, and thus there is no particular reason to remove cathedral status. My own diocese, Argyll & The Isles, has two cathedrals, one staffed at present only by a lay chaplain and the other only by the Provost.
Perhaps the question is who pays, how much, and for what.
I don’t know, but do all 3 cathedrals in Leeds diocese still each get Dean and 2 Canons paid for by the Commissioners?
Forgive me if i disagree. There has been a great deal of contention about the Diocese of Leeds, but Ripon, Wakefield and Bradford are incredibly different and serve different purposes. I know – I have worked in all three!! For all the tribalism in the church we which need to work, there is also a rather beautiful and important Northern pride/tribalism which needs a context here. You cant just say “three cathedrals is too many”. I think we need to distinguish between liturgical and spiritual centres, as well as administrative centres. Maybe Leeds Diocese is more of an uber-multi-parish benefice… Read more »
No forgiveness needed for such a helpful and well informed comment.
John S
19 days ago
Viewed in organisational terms rather than pastoral terms, the Leeds situation shows that if you merge complete dioceses, each constituent diocese retains its sense of identity, and it’s very difficult to avoid ending up having largely just created a new layer above the continuing components. I suggest that, although it seems more brutal, reductions of dioceses, if they are to be effective in producing savings, need to take an existing diocese, split it up, and distribute the parts to several neighbouring dioceses. As a former parishioner in Guildford, I suggest that’s a prime candidate – distribute the parishes between at… Read more »
I’m reminded of the story of the Somerset farmer who visited the Vatican and was invited to see the Papal chicken house. The Cardinale de Pollo (forgive my Italian) proudly showed him the elaborately decorated apartments where the birds lived in total luxury, the little capes in various liturgical colours which they wore according to the seasons, including the little gold crowns and spurs for major festivals, and the elaborate food they were given (except, he was told) on Fridays and Ash Wednesday. He was suitably unimpressed and grew redder in the face as time went on. In the end… Read more »
I think, Simon, to give some credit to all three cathedrals, two of them have long distinctive histories as notable parish churches with *very* extensive West Riding parishes, and the third has carried various focal roles (including as a notable collegiate establishment refounded by James I, with a Dean) since before Wilfrid built his church.
Yes absolutely. Just not as cathedrals! When I was young, the foundation of the see of Bradford was still well within living memory, including that of my grandparents, who were themselves Bradfordians.
Leeds Parish Church was promoted to “Leeds Minster” by Archbishop Sentamu in 2012 in recognition of it as an important regional centre of worship. Significantly, it has a history of a choral foundation akin to that of most C of E cathedrals started by reforming vicar Dr W F Hook (1837-1859) and his organist, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, no less. A fine statue of Dr Hook stands incongruously in City Square amidst what is now an open-air bistro restaurant!
All Souls Blackman Lane used to have a notice board saying:
‘This church is part of the One Holy Catholic Church, at present out of communion with the See of Rome.’
Indeed, although he and his wife were buried in a Sussex village churchyard. There is, however, a ‘tomb memorial’ to him in Leeds Minster. Perhaps we should have added that he also ‘rebuilt’ that church, very largely at his own expense, I believe. I live in the Hampshire village where John Keble, a contemporary, did the same.
My concern at the chicken story, would be whether the Somerset farmer ran a decent farm or a terrible battery farm. If the latter, then I’m for the Cardinale de Pollo!
Leeds has a Catholic Diocese, the name chosen so as not to confuse the Catholic hierachy with existing Anglican Dioceses. A law of 1851 had also made it illegal to replicate existing ones. I deeply resent the loss of Bradford and assume the other parts absorbed by Leeds feel similar. Original name was I believe, West Yorkshire and the Dales. Ripon would also have been acceptable as a name and avoided the feeling that Leeds gets everything. The chance to prune a lot of jobs and layers of admin seems to have passed by.
Actually the law of 1851 made it a criminal offence for anyone outside the Church of England to use any episcopal title that included the name of a place in the UK. When the act was repealed it specifically continued the illegality of such titles but noted that “it is not expedient to impose penalties upon those ministers of religion”. That 1871 Act is still on the statute book. The Roman Catholic hierarchy in England has made the unilateral choice not to use titles that conflict with existing English sees, but I don’t think there is any legal basis for… Read more »
From a press release of 13 July 2016 … From July 14th [2016], the Church of England diocese in West Yorkshire & the Dales is now known solely by its official, legal name, The Diocese of Leeds. The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, says, “Since the diocese was created in 2014, we have always legally been the Diocese of Leeds, but we were allowed to informally call ourselves ‘The Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales’. The experience of the past two years has shown, however, that having two names for the diocese is too confusing for… Read more »
It is disappointing that the Church of England did not show respect to the Roman Catholic church by reciprocating. Pope Franncis appointed the TENTH Bishop of Leeds in September 2014. https://www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk/bishop-of-leeds/ The Church of England created the Diocese of West Yorkshire and The Dales (and associated Bishops) that same year after long and protracted ‘debate’ ; areview of lessons learned can still be found on the Dioceses Commission website: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/leeds-lessons-learned-note-final-version-1-7-21.pdf The 11th Bishop of Plymouth (the first was in 1851) has recently been appointed by Pope Leo; the 11th Anglican Bishop of Plymouth since 1923 (along with the Diocesan Bishop… Read more »
Strictly speaking, there was no Church of England between 1801 and 1870, there was the United Church of England and Ireland.The Acts of Union 1800 had united not only the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland, but also the Church of England and Church of Ireland. The 1851 Act referred not to the CofE but the U.CofEandI. It also exempted the Scottish Episcopal Church. Apart from the cathedral question, there are still “area bishops” of Wakefield, Bradford and Ripon. So the net effect has been to impose a third episcopal layer by inter posing a bishop above Wakefield etc but… Read more »
Three cathedrals in a diocese is two too many.
I agree with Maungy Vicar. They can become minsters, and be staff as minsters are.
Any other declining organisation would be stripping away layers of middle management …
how do you decide which one becomes the cathedra of Bishop of Leeds
Not too long ago Bradford and Wakefield Cathedrals had Provosts, and Ripon Cathedral had a Dean. The first two are former parish Churches, Ripon on the other hand as a Saxon foundation is a clear front-runner to be sole cathedral. This won’t happen, but the number of bishops, deans, archdeacons, and cathedral canons is embarassing.
Manchester and Ripon were the first 19th century sees to be created. Both new cathedrals were collegiate churches which already had deans and chapters, so elevating them to cathedral status was relatively straightforward.
Be grateful you are not in the United Dioceses of Tuam, Killala, Achonry, Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly.
Indeed. But if I remember correctly, there are no longer cathedrals in Achonry, Ardfert. Aghadoe, Kilmacduagh and Emly!
Let’s not be too judgmental. If you squint a bit all these cathedrals in Leeds Diocese are simply resource churches with a lot more bling, a much larger analog synthesiser and a better dressed music group and clergy.
Analog synthesiser? Surely you mean digital synthesiser, analogue synthesisers were made out of discrete components with transistors, resistors, capacitors, which constructed oscillators and filters. There were no digital elements.
Whereas digital synthesisers use digital processors and work in the digital domain.
I think a performance of performance in a cathedral may be a step too far.
https://cdm.link/watch-mick-jagger-rock-moog-modular/
Possibly naïve of me, but I assumed this ‘much larger analog synthesiser’ was a humorous alias for the cathedral pipe organ and ‘music group’ the choirs, organists and music directors.
Ripon has a particularly fine organ and Wakefield’s boasts five manuals, albeit that size alone doesn’t define a great instrument.
The opus Dei is maintained at all three cathedrals. When the Leeds diocese was proposed there was a suggestion that Leeds Minster might serve as the pro-Cathedral, but, so far as I am aware, it seems nothing came of that idea.
I think Anglican in Exile’s comment could be interpreted in many ways! I was being pedantic, but I care about these things, having build a large analogue synthesiser in the 1970’s and played the real pipe organ. I took an interest at one time in developing physical models of a pipe organ, using digital processing tools from Native Instruments.
Digital organs used in churches often used sample of real organs. However, I understand modern research has led to physical modelling of pipes, which I was trying out (unsuccessfully) in the 1970’s.
https://viscountorgans.net/what-is-physis-technology/
I don’t know the organ of Bradford Cathedral, hence not commenting specifically about it. Ripon’s pipe organ is of the ‘Rolls Royce’ calibre, something which the then president of the Royal College of Organists said to me about Winchester Cathedral organ (I’m aware of similar claims made by others elsewhere). Viscount have supplied temporary electronic organs at several cathedrals (including Canterbury, Winchester and Gloucester) recently while the pipe organ was undergoing restoration. I have no experience in this field, but have visited both Henry Willis & Sons and Harrison & Harrison who continue to produce and restore superlative pipe organs… Read more »
Thanks.
I think, if you’ll pardon the expression, it’s what you do with them that counts. Cathedrals are not required to have an enormous paid staff simply by virtue of status. They can cut their cloth to fit, same as an other church, and thus there is no particular reason to remove cathedral status. My own diocese, Argyll & The Isles, has two cathedrals, one staffed at present only by a lay chaplain and the other only by the Provost.
This is so with all the Irish cathedrals outside Dublin. Cloyne, for example, is little more than a village church.
Perhaps the question is who pays, how much, and for what.
I don’t know, but do all 3 cathedrals in Leeds diocese still each get Dean and 2 Canons paid for by the Commissioners?
Yes.
Forgive me if i disagree. There has been a great deal of contention about the Diocese of Leeds, but Ripon, Wakefield and Bradford are incredibly different and serve different purposes. I know – I have worked in all three!! For all the tribalism in the church we which need to work, there is also a rather beautiful and important Northern pride/tribalism which needs a context here. You cant just say “three cathedrals is too many”. I think we need to distinguish between liturgical and spiritual centres, as well as administrative centres. Maybe Leeds Diocese is more of an uber-multi-parish benefice… Read more »
No forgiveness needed for such a helpful and well informed comment.
Viewed in organisational terms rather than pastoral terms, the Leeds situation shows that if you merge complete dioceses, each constituent diocese retains its sense of identity, and it’s very difficult to avoid ending up having largely just created a new layer above the continuing components. I suggest that, although it seems more brutal, reductions of dioceses, if they are to be effective in producing savings, need to take an existing diocese, split it up, and distribute the parts to several neighbouring dioceses. As a former parishioner in Guildford, I suggest that’s a prime candidate – distribute the parishes between at… Read more »
Congrats to the new dean, and prayers for his ministry and that of the whole cathedral community.
Amen
I’m reminded of the story of the Somerset farmer who visited the Vatican and was invited to see the Papal chicken house. The Cardinale de Pollo (forgive my Italian) proudly showed him the elaborately decorated apartments where the birds lived in total luxury, the little capes in various liturgical colours which they wore according to the seasons, including the little gold crowns and spurs for major festivals, and the elaborate food they were given (except, he was told) on Fridays and Ash Wednesday. He was suitably unimpressed and grew redder in the face as time went on. In the end… Read more »
“each of the Cathedrals had its own particular ministry and culture, developed over many centuries”
Bradford became a cathedral in 1919; Wakefield in 1888; Ripon in 1836. So none of them has been a cathedral for “centuries”
I remember the celebrations for the sesquicentennial of Ripon diocese well!
Well forgive my ignorance but you might concede the point about ministry and culture which has, admittedly, been made more eloquently elsewhere
I think, Simon, to give some credit to all three cathedrals, two of them have long distinctive histories as notable parish churches with *very* extensive West Riding parishes, and the third has carried various focal roles (including as a notable collegiate establishment refounded by James I, with a Dean) since before Wilfrid built his church.
Yes absolutely. Just not as cathedrals! When I was young, the foundation of the see of Bradford was still well within living memory, including that of my grandparents, who were themselves Bradfordians.
Leeds Parish Church was promoted to “Leeds Minster” by Archbishop Sentamu in 2012 in recognition of it as an important regional centre of worship. Significantly, it has a history of a choral foundation akin to that of most C of E cathedrals started by reforming vicar Dr W F Hook (1837-1859) and his organist, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, no less. A fine statue of Dr Hook stands incongruously in City Square amidst what is now an open-air bistro restaurant!
All Souls’ Leeds in Blackman Lane is the ‘Hook memorial church’. I think Hook went on to be Dean of Chichester.
All Souls Blackman Lane used to have a notice board saying:
‘This church is part of the One Holy Catholic Church, at present out of communion with the See of Rome.’
I remember something of the sort.
Indeed, although he and his wife were buried in a Sussex village churchyard. There is, however, a ‘tomb memorial’ to him in Leeds Minster. Perhaps we should have added that he also ‘rebuilt’ that church, very largely at his own expense, I believe. I live in the Hampshire village where John Keble, a contemporary, did the same.
Interesting.
My concern at the chicken story, would be whether the Somerset farmer ran a decent farm or a terrible battery farm. If the latter, then I’m for the Cardinale de Pollo!
Leeds has a Catholic Diocese, the name chosen so as not to confuse the Catholic hierachy with existing Anglican Dioceses. A law of 1851 had also made it illegal to replicate existing ones. I deeply resent the loss of Bradford and assume the other parts absorbed by Leeds feel similar. Original name was I believe, West Yorkshire and the Dales. Ripon would also have been acceptable as a name and avoided the feeling that Leeds gets everything. The chance to prune a lot of jobs and layers of admin seems to have passed by.
Actually the law of 1851 made it a criminal offence for anyone outside the Church of England to use any episcopal title that included the name of a place in the UK. When the act was repealed it specifically continued the illegality of such titles but noted that “it is not expedient to impose penalties upon those ministers of religion”. That 1871 Act is still on the statute book. The Roman Catholic hierarchy in England has made the unilateral choice not to use titles that conflict with existing English sees, but I don’t think there is any legal basis for… Read more »
It was “West Yorkshire and the Dales”, and that did not work well for parishes in South Yorkshire, or in North Yorkshire, but not in the Dales.
From a press release of 13 July 2016 … From July 14th [2016], the Church of England diocese in West Yorkshire & the Dales is now known solely by its official, legal name, The Diocese of Leeds. The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, says, “Since the diocese was created in 2014, we have always legally been the Diocese of Leeds, but we were allowed to informally call ourselves ‘The Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales’. The experience of the past two years has shown, however, that having two names for the diocese is too confusing for… Read more »
It is disappointing that the Church of England did not show respect to the Roman Catholic church by reciprocating. Pope Franncis appointed the TENTH Bishop of Leeds in September 2014. https://www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk/bishop-of-leeds/ The Church of England created the Diocese of West Yorkshire and The Dales (and associated Bishops) that same year after long and protracted ‘debate’ ; areview of lessons learned can still be found on the Dioceses Commission website: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/leeds-lessons-learned-note-final-version-1-7-21.pdf The 11th Bishop of Plymouth (the first was in 1851) has recently been appointed by Pope Leo; the 11th Anglican Bishop of Plymouth since 1923 (along with the Diocesan Bishop… Read more »
Southwark and Portsmouth, for starters. In both cases, the RC diocese came first.
And Birmingham and Liverpool.
Strictly speaking, there was no Church of England between 1801 and 1870, there was the United Church of England and Ireland.The Acts of Union 1800 had united not only the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland, but also the Church of England and Church of Ireland. The 1851 Act referred not to the CofE but the U.CofEandI. It also exempted the Scottish Episcopal Church. Apart from the cathedral question, there are still “area bishops” of Wakefield, Bradford and Ripon. So the net effect has been to impose a third episcopal layer by inter posing a bishop above Wakefield etc but… Read more »
Yes, I glossed over the Irish question (trying to keep things a bit simpler!).