Archdeacon of Gloucester

The Archdeacon of Gloucester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Gloucester, England. Among her or his responsibilities, she or he has care of clergy and church buildings within the area of the Archdeaconry of Gloucester.

The first recorded archdeacons of the Diocese of Worcester occur from c. 1086 – the same sort of time that archdeacons occur across the church in England. Two archdeacons are recorded simultaneously from that time, but no clear territorial title occurs until 1143, when Gervase is called Archdeacon of Gloucester.

The archdeaconry was within Worcester diocese for almost 500 years, until it was formed into the newly created Diocese of Gloucester on 13 September 1541, as part of the Henrician reformation. From 5 October 1836, when the diocese was merged with Bristol and 9 July 1897, when Bristol became an independent diocese again, the archdeaconry was in the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Parts of Gloucester archdeaconry were used to create the Cirencester archdeaconry (since renamed Cheltenham) on 8 December 1882.

The archdeaconry consists of the deaneries of Forest, Gloucester City, Severn Vale, Stroud, & Wotton.

The current incumbent is Jackie Searle, formerly Vicar of Littleover in the Diocese of Derby; she is the first woman to hold the post, and was installed in Gloucester Cathedral on 12 September 2012.

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