Diocese of Shrewsbury
diocese of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom
The Diocese of Shrewsbury (Latin: Dioecesis Salopiensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the Province of Birmingham which encompasses the historic English counties of Shropshire and Cheshire.
The diocese includes rural areas of Shropshire as well as parts of urban Greater Manchester south of the River Mersey such as Birkenhead, Stockport and Altrincham. The current bishop, Mark Davies, succeeded on 1 October 2010.
Geographical location
The diocese comprises the counties of Shropshire and Cheshire and the parts of Greater Manchester and Merseyside which were formerly in Cheshire. Before 1895, it also included North Wales (then lost for the erection of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia, now, since 1987, in that of Wrexham). In 2007, new pastoral areas and regions were created, replacing the former deaneries.
Past and present bishops
Ordinaries
James Brown (appointed 27 June 1851 – died 14 October 1881)
Edmund James Knight (appointed 25 April 1882 – resigned 28 May 1895)
John Carroll (succeeded 11 May 1895 – died 14 January 1897)
Samuel Webster Allen (appointed 19 April 1897 – died 13 May 1908)
Hugh Singleton (appointed 1 August 1908 – died 17 December 1934)
Ambrose James Moriarty (succeeded 17 December 1934 – died 3 June 1949)
John Aloysius Murphy (succeeded 3 June 1949 – translated to the Archdiocese of Cardiff on 22 August 1961)
William Eric Grasar (appointed 26 April 1962 – resigned 20 March 1980)
Joseph Gray (appointed 19 August 1980 – retired 23 June 1995)
Brian Michael Noble (appointed 23 June 1995 – retired 1 October 2010)
Mark Davies (current bishop, succeeded 1 October 2010)
Coadjutor Bishops
John Carroll (1893–1895)
Mark Davies (2009–2010)
Ambrose James Moriarty (1931–1934)
John Aloysius Murphy (1948–1949)
Auxiliary Bishops
John (Jack) Brewer (1971–1983), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Lancaster
Edmund James Knight (1879–1882), appointed Bishop here
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
Philip Anthony Egan, appointed Bishop of Portsmouth in 2012
Francis Edward Joseph Mostyn, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Wales, Wales in 1895
Gerard William Tickle, appointed Bishop of Great Britain, Military in 1963
Catholic education in the diocese
There are 112 Catholic schools and colleges serving 43,198 pupils.
All figures are as of August 2019
Patron saints of the diocese
1) Our Lady, Help of Christians – 24 May2) Saint Winefride – 3 November
Parish pastoral areas and regions
On 1 October 2007, local deaneries were abolished and parishes grouped together to form 'Pastoral Areas', not as a replacement of parishes but to strengthen local Catholic communities, ensuring the sharing of services and groups and to avoid unnecessary duplication. Each LPT (local pastoral team [see below]) has two co-leaders (one priest; one layperson) and each region is headed by a Regional Dean.
Region A – Shropshire & Wrekin Catholic Region
It is sub-divided into five pastoral areas, which in turn contain 19 parishes.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Diocese of Shrewsbury” is diocese of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Diocese, Shrewsbury and diocese, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “diocese of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q876476. Authority coordinates are 52.708, -2.754. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 1895, 1987 and 2007.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Diocese of Shrewsbury” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.