Archdeacons in the Diocese of Liverpool

The Archdeacons in the Diocese of Liverpool are senior ecclesiastical officers in the Church of England in a highly irregular area surrounding the city of Liverpool. They are the Archdeacons of Liverpool, of St Helens and Warrington, of Knowsley and Sefton, and of Wigan and West Lancashire; each one has responsibility over a geographical area within the diocese. The Archdeacons are responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy with their archdeaconries.

The Archdeaconry of Liverpool was originally created on 10 August 1847 in the Diocese of Chester and transferred to the Diocese of Liverpool when the latter was created on 9 April 1880. The Archdeaconry of Warrington was created from the Archdeaconry of Liverpool on 17 July 1880. Prior to the 2015 reorganisation, the old Liverpool archdeaconry consisted of eight area deaneries: Bootle, Huyton, Liverpool North, Liverpool South-Childwall, Sefton, Toxteth and Wavertree, Walton, and West Derby; and the old Warrington archdeaconry of seven: North Meols, Ormskirk, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes, Wigan, and Winwick.

Per the diocese's new mission paper, Fit for Mission, prepared by Paul Bayes, the new Bishop of Liverpool, the archdeaconries of the diocese are due to be reorganised not long after the retirement of Peter Bradley as Archdeacon of Warrington at the end of October 2015. On 29 May 2015, it was announced that four archdeaconries would exist after the reorganisation: Liverpool (reduced in size from its current area), Knowsley and Sefton, St Helens and Warrington, and Wigan and West Lancashire; on 9 August three archdeacons-designate were announced, and it was further indicated it was hoped the reorganisation could be completed in time to collate the new archdeacons on 14 November 2015. On 5 November 2015, it was announced that Bayes had signed the pastoral order effecting the boundary changes and erection of the new archdeaconries. (Depending on how the reorganisation was actually achieved, one of the three new incumbents may have succeeded to the old Archdeaconry of Warrington renamed.)

Following the reorganisation, the (reduced) Liverpool archdeaconry consists of five deaneries: Liverpool North, Liverpool South-Childwall, Toxteth and Wavertree, Walton, and West Derby; Knowsley and Sefton archdeaconry of four: Bootle, Huyton, North Meols, and Sefton; St Helens and Warrington archdeaconry of four: St Helens, Warrington, Widnes, and Winwick; and Wigan and West Lancashire archdeaconry of two: Ormskirk, and Wigan.

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