The Archdeacon of Hastings is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Chichester. 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 (160 km) along the south coast of England.
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History
The two original archdeaconries of Chichester diocese, Chichester and Lewes, were created in the 12th century – at around the time when archdeacons were first appointed across England. The third archdeaconry, Hastings, was created on 28 June 1912. The archdeaconries were then reorganised under Eric Kemp (Bishop of Chichester) on 28 June 1975: the Hastings archdeaconry was dissolved and her territory returned to Lewes archdeaconry, which was renamed "Lewes & Hastings"; and a new archdeaconry of Horsham was created.
On 12 May 2014, it was announced that the diocese is to take forward proposals to create a fourth archdeaconry (presently referred to as Brighton.) Since Lewes itself would be within the new archdeaconry, Lewes & Hastings archdeaconry would become simply Hastings archdeaconry. On 8 August 2014, the Church Times reported that the archdeaconry had been renamed.