The Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 and Brecon

Brecon

Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...

 is the Ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...

 of the Church in Wales

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...

 Diocese of Swansea and Brecon

Diocese of Swansea and Brecon

The Diocese of Swansea and Brecon was established as a Diocese of the Church in Wales in 1923 with Brecon Priory as the Cathedral. The Diocese has a border with five other Welsh Dioceses, as well as with the English Diocese of Hereford....

.

The diocese covers the City and County of Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 and the ancient counties of Brecknockshire

Brecknockshire

Brecknockshire , also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county.-Geography:...

 and Radnorshire

Radnorshire

Radnorshire is one of thirteen historic and former administrative counties of Wales. It is represented by the Radnorshire area of Powys, which according to the 2001 census, had a population of 24,805...

. The see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 is in the town of Brecon

Brecon

Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...

 where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Evangelist

Brecon Cathedral

Brecon Cathedral, in the town of Brecon, is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales, and seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon...

 which was a parish church since the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, becoming elevated to cathedral status in 1923.

The Bishops residence is Ely Tower, Brecon.

The office was created in 1923 at the founding of the diocese. On 29 January 2008, The Very Reverend John Davies

John Davies (bishop of Swansea and Brecon)

John David Edward Davies has been since 2008 the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales.John David Edward Davies was born 6 February 1953. He was educated at Southampton University....

, Dean of Brecon Cathedral was elected Bishop. The election follows the retirement of the Rt Rev Anthony Pierce

Anthony Pierce

Anthony Edward Pierce was the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales from 1998 until 2008.-Career:Pierce was educated at Dynevor School, Swansea, and at Swansea University and Linacre College, Oxford...

 on January 16, who served as bishop of the diocese from 1999. The Dean will be the ninth Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, an area stretching south to the coast of Gower and north into much of mid-Wales.

List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon

Tenure	Incumbent	Notes
1923 to 1934	Edward Bevan	Previously Assistant Bishop of Swansea (Diocese of St Davids)
1934 to 1939	John Morgan John Morgan (bishop) John Morgan served as Bishop of Swansea and Brecon and subsequently as Bishop of Llandaff , in which post he was also enthroned on 21 September 1949 as Archbishop of Wales ....
1939 to 1953	Edward Williamson
1953 to 1958	Glyn Simon Glyn Simon William Glyn Hughes Simon was the Anglican Archbishop of Wales from 1968 to 1971.Simon was born in Swansea, where his father was curate at St Gabriel's church. He was baptised by David Lewis Prosser, later to become the third Archbishop of Wales....
1958 to 1976	John Thomas John Thomas (bishop of Swansea and Brecon) John James Absalom Thomas DD was the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon from 1958 until 1976.Thomas was educated at the University of Aberystwyth and Keble College, Oxford, and was ordained in 1932....
1976 to 1988	Benjamin Vaughan
1988 to 1999	Dewi Bridges Dewi Bridges Dewi Morris Bridges was the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon from 1988 until 1998.Bridges was born on 18 November 1933. He was educated at the St David's College, Lampeter and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was ordained after a period of study at Westcott House, Cambridge in 1957.He held...
1999 to 2008	Anthony Pierce Anthony Pierce Anthony Edward Pierce was the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales from 1998 until 2008.-Career:Pierce was educated at Dynevor School, Swansea, and at Swansea University and Linacre College, Oxford...
2008 to present	John Davies John Davies (bishop of Swansea and Brecon) John David Edward Davies has been since 2008 the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales.John David Edward Davies was born 6 February 1953. He was educated at Southampton University....

Sources

• Whitaker's Almanack to 2004, Joseph Whitaker and Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London