Diocese of Chichester

Holy Trinity - Rudgwick's Parish church - is part of the Church of England, which is organised into dioceses - roughly one diocese per county (but not exactly!).

The Diocese of Chichester almost exactly covers the counties of East and West Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove, stretching for nearly a hundred miles (160km) along the south coast of England.

It was founded in 681 by St Wilfrid who converted the Kingdom of the South Saxons and established the first cathedral (a building which no longer exists) at Selsey. In 1075 a new cathedral was begun a few miles away at Chichester.

A diocese is overseen by a Diocesan Bishop, assisted by Area Bishops and Archdeacons. The Bishop of Chichester is John Hind. The Area Bishop with responsibility for most of West Sussex is (from 25 July 2009) Mark Sowerby

For more detail, click the link under the 'websites' heading on the left of this page.