Template:Diocese

The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.

The diocese was founded in around 679 by St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the Anglo Saxon petty kingdoms that existed at that time in England. The borders of the diocese are believed to be close to those of that ancient kingdom.^[1]

Covering an area of 671 square miles (1,740 km²) it has parishes in:

• the County of Worcestershire
• the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
• northern Gloucestershire
• urban villages along the edge of the south-east of the Metropolitan Borough of Wolverhampton
• the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell

In 2005 the diocese has 190 parishes with 281 churches and 163 stipendiary clergy.

The diocese is divided into two Archdeaconries:

• the Archdeaconry of Worcester
• the Archdeaconry of Dudley

From its foundation the diocese included southern and western Warwickshire (an area known as Felden). In 1837 the north and east of Warwickshire (Arden) which formed the archdeaconry of Coventry in the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry was transferred to the diocese of Worcester. In 1905 an area in northern Warwickshire was split off as the Diocese of Birmingham, and in 1918 an area approximating to the rest of Warwickshire was created the Diocese of Coventry.