Diocese of Sodor and Man

Diocese of Sodor and Man Dioecesis Sodorensis et Monensis Aspickys Sodor as Vannin
Location
Ecclesiastical province	York
Archdeaconries	Man
Deaneries	Castletown, Douglas, Peel, Ramsey
Statistics
Parishes	28
Churches	43
Information
Denomination	Church of England
Cathedral	Peel Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop	Bishop of Sodor and Man (vacant) acting bishop: Richard Blackburn, Bishop of Warrington
Archdeacon	Andie Brown, Archdeacon of Man
Website
sodorandman.im

Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets. Today, the bishop's offices are based in Douglas and the cathedral is in Peel. The diocese is not generally called either Sodor diocese or Man diocese.

The Norwegian diocese of Sodor was formed in 1154, covering the Hebrides and the other islands along the west coast of Scotland. The name in the original Norse was Suðreyjar (Sudreys or "southern isles"), in contrast to the Norðreyjar, the "northern isles" of Orkney and Shetland. The Isle of Man was included in with these southern isles. This diocese was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Trondheim.

Norway controlled all these islands until 1266, when they were ceded to Scotland. The Isle of Man was detached from the Scottish islands and came under the suzerainty of the Kings of England in 1334. Thereafter it was held by feudal Lords of Man (the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, from 1406 to 1736 and the Dukes of Atholl from 1736) until the lordship was purchased by the British Crown in 1765. The right to appoint the Bishop of Sodor and Man belonged to the Lords of Man, and continued to be exercised by the Dukes of Atholl after the revestment in 1765 until it was surrendered to the Crown in 1828. The Isle of Man was never incorporated into the Kingdom of England, or the United Kingdom, but is a Crown Dependency. In common with the rest of the Church of England, at the English Reformation the Diocese left the Roman Catholic Church under Henry VIII. The bishop Thomas Stanley was not a supporter of the reforms (particularly the reallocation of his Diocese from the Province of Canterbury to the Province of York in 1542) and was deprived of office by Henry, but was briefly reinstated under Mary I, who restored Stanley to office, but was separated once again under the religious settlement under Elizabeth I. Since the Isle of Man was not part of the Kingdom of England, the Act of Uniformity 1662 passed at the English Restoration did not apply to it, so Thomas Wilson was free to introduce worship in the Manx language during his episcopate (1697–1755), and to resolve issues of clergy discipline resulting from the Isle of Man's unique status.

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Wikipedia