Archdeacon of Rochester

The Archdeacon of Rochester is a senior office-holder in the Diocese of Rochester (a division of the Church of England Province of Canterbury.) Like other archdeacons, she or he is an administrator in the diocese at large (having oversight of parishes in roughly one-third of the diocese.) The present incumbent is the Ven Simon Burton-Jones.

History

The first Archdeacon of Rochester is recorded c. 1096, at approximately the same sort of time as archdeacons were being appointed across the country. At this point, this archdeacon was the sole archdeacon in the diocese, functioning as an assistant to the bishop. The archidiaconal and diocesan boundaries remained similar for almost 750 years until 1 January 1846 when the three archdeaconries of Colchester, of Essex and of St Albans from the Diocese of London were added to the diocese – at this point, the diocese covered all of Essex, Hertfordshire and west Kent. Those three archdeaconries created the new Diocese of St Albans in 1877, but the diocese received part of Surrey (which was constituted into the Southwark archdeaconry the next year) a few months later: in 1879 the Kingston archdeaconry was split off from Southwark; those two archdeaconries were erected into the Diocese of Southwark in 1905 – immediately prior to that date the Diocese of Rochester covered a large portion of Surrey (now southern Greater London) immediately south of the Thames plus west Kent. Once again, Rochester was the sole archdeaconry of the diocese until it was split to create the Archdeaconry of Tonbridge in 1906; it was further split in 1955 to create the Archdeaconry of Bromley, so that there are today three archdeaconries in the present diocese, covering West Kent plus the two London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley – an area broadly similar to that covered until 1846.

List of archdeacons

High Medieval

• bef. 1107–aft. 1107: Ansketil
• bef. 1122–aft. 1115: Hervey or Herwis
• bef. 1134–bef. 1145 (res.): Robert Pullen (became cardinal-priest of San Martino ai Monti)
• bef. 1145–aft. 1190: Paris
• bef. 1193–aft. 1225: William son of Peter
• bef. 1238–aft. 1245: a vicar of Frindsbury
• bef. 1253–1274 (d.): William de Sancto Martino
• bef. 1278–1288 (d.): John de Sancto Dionysio
• bef. 1289–9 February 1321 (depr.): Roger de Weseham

Late Medieval

• 1321–bef. 1323 (res.): Pierre Cardinal Desprès (Cardinal-priest of Santa Pudenziana)
• 1323–bef. 1359 (res.): William de le Dene
• 20 June 1359–bef. 1364 (res.): William Reed
• 1364–aft. 1366: William Wyvel of Wenlock
• bef. 1368–aft. 1368: Roger
• ?–bef. 1373 (res.): William de Navesby
• 1373–bef. 1396 (d.): Roger de Denford
• 31 July 1396–1400 (d.): Thomas Halle
• bef. 1402–aft. 1402: William Hunden
• bef. 1418–1418 (d.): William Purcell
• 1420–bef. 1452 (d.): Richard Cordon or Brouns
• 21 November 1452–aft. 1467: John Lowe
• bef. 1474–aft. 1475: Roger Rotherham
• bef. 1480–1489 (d.): Henry Sharp
• bef. 1497–bef. 1512 (res.): Henry Edyall
• 26 November 1512–bef. 1537 (res.): Nicholas Metcalfe
• 27 August 1537–1554 (res.): Maurice Griffith (became Bishop of Rochester)

Early modern

• 1554–1560: John Kennall
• 1560–1571: John Bridgewater
• 1571–1576: John Calverley
• 1576–1593: Ralph Pickover
• 1593–1606: Thomas Staller
• 1606–1614: Thomas Sanderson
• 1614–1624: Richard Tillesley
• 1625–1652: Elizeus Burgess
• 1660–1679: John Lee
• 1679–1704: Thomas Plume
• 1704–1720: Thomas Sprat
• 1720–1728: Henry Bridges
• 1728: William Bradford
• 1728–1767: John Denne
• 1767–1827: John Law
• 1827–1859: Walker King

Late modern

• 1860–1882: Anthony Grant
• 1882–1908: Samuel Cheetham
• 1908–1915: John Tetley-Rowe
• 1915–1932: Donald Tait
• 1933–1951: Walter Browne
• 1951–1969: Lawrence Harland
• 1969–1976: David Stewart-Smith
• 1977–1983: Derek Palmer
• 1984–1988: Michael Turnbull
• 1989–2000: Norman Warren
• 2001–2009: Peter Lock
• 24 January 2010–present: Simon Burton-Jones