Archdeacon of Norwich

The Archdeacon of Norwich is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Norwich, who exercises supervision of clergy and responsibility for church buildings within the geographical area of her or his archdeaconry.

The current archdeacon is Jan McFarlane.

History

The ancient Archdeaconry of Norwich has been an ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the Diocese of Norwich since its creation around 1100 – at which time the first archdeacons were being appointed across the nation.

List of archdeacons

High Medieval

Diocesan archdeacons:

Four archdeacons occur in records but cannot be clearly identified with a particular territory:

• bef. 1086–aft. 1107: Geoffrey
• bef. 1107–aft. 1114: Alfred
• bef. 1101–aft. 1115: Osbern
• bef. 1111–aft. 1115: Walter

Archdeacons of Norwich:

• bef. 1127–aft. 1148: William (I)
• aft. 1146: Ralph
• bef. 1161–aft. 1164: Philip
• bef. 1168–aft. 1178: William (II)
• bef. 1182–aft. 1198: Thomas
• 1200–1225 (res.): Geoffrey de Burgh
• 1228–1229 (res.): Luke the chaplain (became Archbishop of Dublin)
• 1229–aft. 1238: John of Ferentino
• bef. 1248–aft. 1252: William de Suffield
• c. 1253 & c. 1255: post not vacant
• bef. 1273–aft. 1289 (res.): Thomas de Skerning (became Archdeacon of Suffolk)

Late Medieval

• 4 February 1302 – 1324 (res.): William de Knapton (became Archdeacon of Suffolk)
• 16 April 1324–bef. 1328 (res.): Roger de Snetisham
• 8 December 1328 – 1340 (res.): William Bateman
• 1340–1347 (res.): Thomas Fastolf
• January 1347–bef. 1349: Hamo de Belers
• February 1347–bef. May 1347 (rev.): Thomas de Bradwardine (ineffective royal grant)
• May 1347–?: John Berenger (ineffective royal grant)
• 27 August 1349 – 1355 (d.): Richard Lyng
• 9 April 1355–bef. 1361 (d.): Richard de Norwico
• 17 October 1361 – 27 March 1387 (exch.): William Swynflet
• 27 March 1387–aft. 1801: John Derlyngton
• 17 November 1395: John de Middleton (ineffective royal grant)
• November 1406–bef. November 1407 (res.): Robert Wolveden
• 12 November 1407–bef. 1419 (d.): William Westacre
• 11 April 1419 – 1426 (d.): Henry Kays
• bef. 1428–aft. 1455: Richard Cawdray
• bef. 1465–1459 (res.): John Hales
• bef. 1461–bef. 1462 (res.): John Morton
• bef. 1463–aft. 1463: Vincent Clement
• bef. 1472–3 January 1477 (exch.): John Morton (again; also Archdeacon of Winchester from 1475 and of Berks from 1476)
• 3 January 1477–aft. 1483: Thomas Marke
• bef. 1484–1497 (res.): Nicholas Goldwell (became Archdeacon of Suffolk)
• 20 April 1497–bef. 1509 (res.): Robert Honywood
• 14 June 1509–bef. 1517 (d.): John Ednam
• 5 February 1517 – 1522 (res.): William Stillington (became Archdeacon of Norfolk)

• 9 April 1522–bef. 1528 (res.): Thomas Larke
• 26 June 1528–July 1543 (d.): George Wyndham
• 25 November 1543–bef. 1557 (d.): Thomas Cornwalleys

Early modern

• 16 October 1557–bef. 1571 (d.): Richard Underwood
• 15 February 1572 – 1576 (d.): Thomas Roberts (bishop's grant)
• bef. 1572 (disp.): John Rugge (ineffective bishop's grant)
• 1 August 1573 (disp.): George Gardiner (disputed queen's grant; Dean of Norwich from November 1573)
• 9 August 1581 – 4 September 1604 (d.): John Freake
• 12 September 1604–bef. 1618 (d.): Thomas Jegon
• 13 April 1618–bef. 1652 (d.): Andrew Bing
• 18 October 1660 – 31 March 1668 (d.): William Gery
• 20 April 1668–?: John Reynolds
• 8 June 1676 – 12 March 1694 (d.): John Conant
• 19 April 1694 – 1 April 1720 (d.): John Jeffery
• 5 May 1720–bef. 1722 (res.): William Trimnel (became Dean of Winchester)
• 22 February 1722 – 19 May 1742 (d.): Christopher Clarke
• 13 July 1742–bef. 1744 (res.): Matthew Postlethwayte
• 11 October 1744 – 13 June 1782 (d.): John Berney
• 15 June 1782–bef. 1814 (res.): William Yonge
• 22 November 1814 – 10 September 1844 (d.): Henry Bathurst
• 23 September 1844 – 29 March 1857 (d.): John Collyer
• 1 July 1857 – 27 March 1868 (d.): Robert Hankinson

Late modern

• Charles Wodehouse (1790–1870)
• 1868–7 January 1878 (d.): Augustus Hopper
• 1878–1910: Thomas Perowne (died 1913)
• 1910–24 February 1918 (d.): Frederick Westcott
• 1918–1920 (res.): Charles Carr (became Archdeacon of Sheffield)
• 1920–1938: George MacDermott
• 1937–1954: Thomas Perowne (died 1954) (son of the above)
• 1954–1961 (ret.): Robert Meiklejohn (afterwards archdeacon emeritus)
• 1961–1973 (res.): Aubrey Aitken (became Bishop–Archdeacon of Lynn)
• 1973–1981 (res.): Timothy Dudley-Smith (became Bishop of Thetford)
• 1981–1993 (res.): Michael Handley (became Archdeacon of Norfolk)
• 1994–2008 (ret.): Clifford Offer
• 2009–present: Jan McFarlane