Bishop of Bath and Wells

Bishop of Bath and Wells
Bishopric
anglican
Arms of the Bishop of Bath and Wells: Azure, a saltire per saltire quarterly quartered or and argent
Incumbent: Peter Hancock
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Bath and Wells
Cathedral	Wells Cathedral
Residence	Bishop's Palace, Wells
First incumbent	Athelm
Formation	909
Website	www.bathandwells.org.uk

The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.

The present diocese covers the vast majority of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells in Somerset.

The current bishop, since his confirmation of election on 4 March 2014, is Peter Hancock, the seventy-eighth Bishop, who signs Peter Bath: et Well:. He fully took up his duties upon his installation in a service at Wells Cathedral on 7 June 2014. The see had been vacant since Peter Price's retirement on 30 June 2013, during which time Peter Maurice (Bishop suffragan of Taunton) had acted as diocesan bishop.

The Bishop's residence is The Palace, Wells. In late 2013 the Church Commissioners announced that they were purchasing the Old Rectory, a Grade II-listed building in Croscombe for the Bishop's residence. However this decision was widely opposed, including by the Diocese, and in May 2014 was overturned by a committee of the Archbishops' Council.

Somerset originally came under the authority of the Bishop of Sherborne, but Wells became the seat of its own Bishop of Wells from 909. King William Rufus granted Bath to a royal physician, John of Tours, Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath, who was permitted to move his episcopal seat for Somerset from Wells to Bath in 1090, thereby becoming the first Bishop of Bath. He planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with the bishop's palace beside it.