Diocese of Monmouth

Diocese of Monmouth
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Wales
Archdeaconries	Monmouth, Newport
Information
Cathedral	Newport Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop	Bishop of Monmouth
Website
churchinwales.org.uk/monmouth

The Diocese of Monmouth is a diocese of the Church in Wales. Despite the name, its cathedral is located not in Monmouth but in Newport — the Cathedral Church of St Woolos. Reasons for not choosing the title of Newport included the existence of a Catholic Bishop of Newport until 1916. This apparent anomaly arose in 1921 when the diocese was created (from the eastern part of the Diocese of Llandaff) with no location for the cathedral yet chosen. Various options were being considered, such as restoring Tintern Abbey, building from scratch on Ridgeway Hill in Newport, and (the eventual choice) upgrading St. Woolos, then a parish church; in the meantime the new diocese, as it covers more or less the territory of the county of Monmouth, was named the "Diocese of Monmouth". Prior to 1921 the area had been the archdeaconry of Monmouth.

It is headed by the Bishop of Monmouth, at present the Rt Revd Dominic Walker OGS (elected in 2003).

In its own words, the diocese "covers the south east corner of Wales, from Monmouth south to Chepstow, westwards along the 'M4 corridor' to Newport and the outskirts of Cardiff, northwards into the south eastern valleys and east into the rural areas around Usk, Raglan, Abergavenny and the Herefordshire border".

In local government terms, the territory of the diocese covers the unitary authority areas of:

• Monmouthshire
• Newport
• Torfaen
• Blaenau Gwent (part)
• Caerphilly (part)
• Cardiff (part)
• Herefordshire (part)

External links

• Diocese of Monmouth

Coordinates: 51°40′N 3°00′W / 51.667°N 3°W / 51.667; -3