Diocese of Chester

The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries (and therefore including the Wirral and parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside).

History
The Diocese of Chester was formed on 4 August 1541 out of the archdeaconries of Richmond and Chester from the Diocese of York and the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield respectively. It consisted of the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire, portions of Westmorland, Cumberland and Yorkshire, and a few parishes in Denbighshire and Flintshire.

Starting in the 1830's the diocese lost the the Yorkshire deaneries of the archdeaconry of Richmond to form the new Diocese of Ripon. In 1847 the Lancashire portion of the archdeaconry of Richmond (except the deaneries of Furness and Cartmel) was reconstituted as the archdeaconry of Manchester in the new Diocese of Manchester. The parishes in Denbighshire and Flintshire were transferred to the Welsh Diocese of St Asaph in 1847 and 1849. In 1856 the separated parts of the diocese, in Cumberland and Westmorland, were transferred to the Diocese of Carlisle. The final changes took place in 1880 when the Diocese of Liverpool was created from the archdeaconries of Liverpool, Warrington.

Archdeaconries and deaneries
The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries, each divided into a number of deaneries.

Archdeaconry of Chester
 * Deanery of Birkenhead
 * Deanery of Chester
 * Deanery of Hulme
 * Deanery of Frodsham
 * Deanery of Great Budworth
 * Deanery of Malpas
 * Deanery of Middlewich
 * Deanery of Wallasey
 * Deanery of Wirral North
 * Deanery of Wirral South

Archdeaconry of Macclesfield
 * Deanery of Bowdon
 * Deanery of Chadkirk
 * Deanery of Cheadle
 * Deanery of Congleton
 * Deanery of Knutsford
 * Deanery of Macclesfield
 * Deanery of Mottram
 * Deanery of Nantwich
 * Deanery of Stockport