The Archdeacon of Durham is a senior ecclesiastical officer of the diocese of Durham (Church of England). They have, within the geographical area of the archdeaconry of Durham, pastoral oversight of clergy and care of church buildings (among other responsibilities).
History The first archdeacons in the diocese were appointed after the Norman Conquest – around the same time the post of Archdeacon first appeared elsewhere in England. There is no evidence of more than one archdeacon in the diocese until the mid-12th century, when two lines of office holders start to appear in sources. The titles "Archdeacon of Durham" and "Archdeacon of Northumberland" are not recorded until later in the century, although it is possible to discern which of the two lines became which post.
The archdeaconry has been split twice: once on 23 May 1882, to create the Auckland archdeaconry after the Diocese of Newcastle was created from the diocese's other two archdeaconries and a second time in 1997, to create the Sunderland archdeaconry.
List of archdeacons
High Medieval Sole archdeacons bef. 1080–bef. 1083: Leobwine aft. 1083–bef. 1093: Thurstan 11 August 1093– (res.): Turgot of Durham bef. 1116–bef. 1128: Michael Senior archdeacons aft. 1122–bef. 1144 (dep.): Robert bef. 1147–aft. 1155: Wazo bef. 1158–bef. 1172: Vacant bef. 1172–6 December 1196 (d.): Burchard du Puiset bef. 1197–aft. 1217: Aimeric (also Archdeacon of Carlisle until aft. 1208) aft. 1217–bef. 1225 (d.): Simon de Ferlington bef. 1224–bef. 1244 (d.): William of Laneham Archdeacons of Durham bef. 1255–1255 (d.): Robert de Cortuna bef. 1257–aft. 1272: Robert de Sancta Agatha bef. 1275–aft. 1283 (res.): Antony Bek bef. 1284–1290 (res.): William of Louth bef. 1297–aft. 1309: William de St Botulph
Late Medieval bef. 1331–bef. 1331 (d.): Thomas de Goldesburgh aft. 1331–bef. 1333 (d.): Amaury de Beaumont 3 January 1334–bef. 1334 (res.): Robert de Taunton 31 March 1334–bef. 1361 (d.): Thomas de Neville 15 August 1362–bef. 1369 (d.): William de Westle 18 August 1369–bef. 1369 (res.): John de Kyngeston 6 November 1369–?: John de Stokes bef. 1371–1373 (res.): Alexander Neville bef. 1378–13 August 1379 (d.): Giacomo Cardinal Orsini, Dean of Salisbury (cardinal-deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro) bef. 1380–3 October 1380 (d.): Agapitus Cardinal de Colonna (cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca) 9 May 1381–bef. 1387 (deprived): Pileus Cardinal de Prata (cardinal-priest of Santa Prassede) Period of dispute: Pope's claimants 11 August 1387 – 8 August 1394 (d.): Marius Cardinal Bulcano (cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria Nova; judged proper archdeacon in 1393) King's/Bishop's claimants bef. 1387–bef. 1388: John Maundour 18 April 1388 – 1393 (d.): Hugh Herle 1393–bef. 1408 (d.): Thomas de Weston (unopposed after 1394)
8 October 1408 – 15 February 1409 (res.): Alan de Newark 16 February 1409 – 1417 (d.): John Hovyngham 13 October 1417 – 1419 (res.): John Kemp bef. 1419: Gabriel Cardinal Condulmier (cardinal-priest of San Clemente; grant ineffective) 24 March 1419 – 1 August 1425 (res.): Robert Gilbert 14 August 1425–aft. 1440: Robert Rolleston bef. 1448–aft. 1448: William Scrope bef. 1452–1456 (res.): George Neville aft. 1456–bef. 1466: Thomas Rotherham aft. 1466–1497 (d.): Ralph Booth 20 April 1497–bef. 1500 (res.): Thomas Colston 20 January 1500 – 1503 (res.): Roger Leyburn bef. 1515–January 1556 (d.): William Franklyn (also Dean of Windsor, 1536–1553)
Early modern bef. 1559–bef. 1560 (res.): Bernard Gilpin 22 May 1560–bef. 1563 (res.): John Ebden 5 December 1563–aft. 1602: John Pilkington 19 November 1603–bef. 1620 (d.): William Morton 9 September 1620 – 10 May 1662 (d.): Gabriel Clark 19 September 1662 – 1 February 1690 (deprived): Denis Granville (also Dean of Durham from 1684; non-juror) 15 May 1691–bef. 1730 (d.): The Hon Robert Booth 9 October 1730 – 25 July 1761 (d.): George Sayer 2 January 1762 – 23 August 1791 (d.): Samuel Dickens 10 September 1791 – 26 March 1808 (d.): Benjamin Pye 16 April 1808 – 2 December 1831 (res.): Richard Prosser 6 December 1831 – 10 October 1862 (d.): Charles Thorp
Late modern 1863–26 October 1882 (d.): Edward Prest 1882–31 August 1922 (d.): Henry Watkins 1922–26 April 1924 (d.): John Quirk, Bishop suffragan of Jarrow 1924–9 May 1932 (d.): Samuel Knight, Bishop suffragan of Jarrow 1932–28 August 1938 (d.): James Gordon, Bishop suffragan of Jarrow 1939–1953 (ret.) Egbert Lucas 1953–1969 (ret.): John Cobham (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) 1970–1993 (res.): Michael Perry 1993–1997 (ret.): Derek Hodgson (afterwards archdeacon emeritus) 1997–2002 (res.): Trevor Willmott 2002–2006 (res.): Stephen Conway 200617 April 2019 (ret.): Ian Jagger "late summer" 2020 onwards: Libby Wilkinson (announced)
References
Sources