Bishop of Llandaff

Area of authority

The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of a church wrongly said to have been founded in 560 by Saint Teilo), in the village of Llandaff, just north-west of the City of Cardiff. The Bishop's residence is Llys Esgob, The Cathedral Green, Llandaff, in Cardiff.

Brief history

The controversial Iolo Manuscripts claim an older foundation dating to Saints Dyfan and Fagan, said elsewhere to have missionized the court of King Lucius of Britain on behalf of Pope Eleutherius around AD 166. The manuscripts—others of which are original and others now known forgeries—list Dyfan as the first bishop and, following his martyrdom, Fagan as his successor. Baring-Gould refers to them as chorepiscopi. The present-day St Fagans (referenced in the manuscripts as "Llanffagan Fawr") is now a village near Cardiff.

Originally Celtic Christians, the bishops were in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church from 777 until the Reformation. There is only evidence for the bishops being called Bishop of Llandaff from the early 11th century. Before this, though still ministering to Glamorgan and Gwent, the bishops described themselves as Bishop of Teilo and were almost certainly based at Llandeilo Abbey. The very early bishops were probably based in Ergyng. Before 1107, the title Bishop of Gwlad Morgan (Glamorgan) had been adopted. It was not until the title Bishop of Llandaff was used by Bishop Urban from c. 1119. In medieval records, the bishop was sometimes referred to as the Archbishop of Llandaff. This appears to have been a simple reaction to the claim of St David's to the archiepiscopal title.

In 1534, the church in England and Wales broke allegiance with the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England. After a brief restoration with the Holy See during the reign of Queen Mary I, the Welsh dioceses remained part of the Anglican Province of Canterbury from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I until the early 20th century. Following the passing of the Welsh Church Act 1914, the church in Wales and Monmouthshire was disestablished and the independent Church in Wales was created on 31 March 1920. The bishopric and diocese of Llandaff now constitute part of the Church in Wales within the wider Anglican Communion.

In 1924, the Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' was named after the Right Reverend Joshua Pritchard Hughes, who was bishop from 1905 to 1931.

The current Bishop of Llandaff is the Most Reverend Dr Barry Morgan; when elected as Bishop in 1999 his official signature was Barry Landav, but once elected Archbishop of Wales in 2003 his archiepiscopal signature Barry Cambrensis took precedence. He is supported by the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, the Right Reverend David Wilbourne.

List of bishops

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office.)