Everything about Diocese Of St Asaph totally explained
The
diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese in north-east Wales, named after
Saint Asaph, its second bishop.
Geography
The Anglican
Diocese of St Asaph in the north-east corner of
Wales stretches from the borders of
Chester in the east, to the
Conwy valley in the west, to
Bala in the south-west, and
Newtown in the south-east. The population is in excess of half a million people.
The more populous areas are to be found along the coast and in the large conurbation of
Wrexham, the principal town. The industrial areas around Wrexham and
Deeside have undergone great change in the past decade or so. Where once the
coal,
steel and
textile industries provided most of the employment, the economy is now much more diversified and one of the fastest growing in the UK. A major employer is Airbus UK (currently part of
BAE Systems), while
Wrexham Industrial Estate is one of the largest in Europe. North-east Wales also acts as a dormitory area for Chester Business Park, which is dominated by
MBNA. This economy is ministered to by an Industrial Chaplain, a post which alternates between a
Church in Wales priest and a
Presbyterian Church of Wales minister.
Most of the diocese is rural, interspersed with small market towns and village communities. The southern area of the diocese in north
Powys is undergoing regional development, especially with the advent of a good number of small industries. Because of the beauty of the landscape, at holiday times there's a large influx of visitors from England and further afield.
Tourism is now one of the growth industries of this area of Wales.
Traditionally, the Diocese of St Asaph extended across the border into
England. However, following
disestablishment in 1920, the
Shropshire parishes of Criftins, Hengoed, Kinnerley, Knockin, Llanyblodwel, Llanymynech, Melverley, Morton, Oswestry, St Martins, Selattyn, Trefonen, Weston Rhyn and Whittington were transferred from the Diocese of St Asaph to the English
Diocese of Lichfield.
History
This diocese was founded by
St. Kentigern about the middle of the sixth century, when he was exiled from his see in Scotland. He founded a monastery called Llanelwy at the confluence of the rivers
Clwyd and
Elwy in north east Wales, where after his return to Scotland in 573 he was succeeded by Asaph or Asa, who was consecrated
Bishop of Llanelwy.
The diocese originally coincided with the Welsh
principality of Powys, but lost much territory first by the
Mercian encroachment marked by Watt's dyke and again by the construction of
Offa's dyke, soon after 798. Nothing is known of the history of the diocese during the disturbed period that followed.
Domesday Book gives scanty particulars of a few churches but is silent as to the
cathedral.
Early in the twelfth century, Norman influence asserted itself and in 1143
Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated one Gilbert as Bishop of St. Asaph, but the position of his successors was very difficult and one of them, Godfrey, was driven away by poverty and the hostility of the Welsh. A return made in the middle of the thirteenth century (British Museum, Cotton MSS. Vitellius, c. x.) shows the existence of eight rural deaneries, seventy-nine churches, and nineteen chapels. By 1291 the deaneries had been doubled in number and there were
Cistercian houses at
Basingwerk,
Aberconway,
Strata Marcella and
Valle Crucis, and a Cistercian nunnery at
Llanllugan. The cathedral, which had been burnt in the wars, was rebuilt and completed in 1295. It was a plain massive structure of simple plan, and was again destroyed during the English succession
Wars of the Roses. When it was restored by Bishop Redman the palace wasn't rebuilt and thus the bishops continued to be nonresident. At the end of the fifteenth century there was a great revival of church building, as is evidenced by the churches of that date still existing in the diocese.
The chief shrines in the diocese were St. Winefred's Well, St. Garmon in Yale , St. Dervel Gadarn in
Edeirnion, St. Monacella at Pennant and the Holy Cross in
Strata Marcella. All these were demolished at the
Anglican Reformation. At that time the diocese contained one archdeaconry, sixteen deaneries and one hundred and twenty-one parishes. The bishop at this time had five episcopal residences, four of which were assumed by the Church of England bishop under Edward VI.
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