Portal:Cheshire/Selected list/16
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese encompasses most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula. It has its see in Chester; the seat is located at Chester Cathedral, which was formerly the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Werburgh, being elevated to cathedral status in 1541. The Bishop's residence is Bishop's House, Chester.
Cheshire previously held a bishopric in 1075–1102, when Peter of Lichfield moved his seat to Chester. The seat was then at the collegiate church of St John the Baptist. The present diocese was formed in 1541, when Henry VIII created it, without papal sanction, as one of six new episcopal sees. The first bishop of the modern diocese was John Bird (1541–54), a doctor of divinity who had attracted the king's attention by his sermons preached against the pope's supremacy. As of 2020, the bishopric is held by Mark Tanner.