| Jurisdiction: | Diocese |
| Carlisle | |
| Latin: | Dioecesis Carleolensis |
| Coat: | Diocese of Carlisle arms.svg |
| Coat Size: | 150px |
| Flag: | Flag of the Diocese of Carlisle.svg |
| Flag Size: | 150px |
| Province: | Province of York |
| Parishes: | 267 |
| Churches: | 349 |
| Bishop: | Bishop of Carlisle (vacant; acting: the Bishop of Penrith) |
| Cathedral: | Carlisle Cathedral |
| Language: | English |
| Archdeaconries: | Carlisle, West Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness |
| Suffragan: | Rob Saner-Haigh, Bishop of Penrith |
| Archdeacons: | Vernon Ross, Archdeacon of Stewart Fyfe, Archdeacon of West Cumberland Archdeacon of Carlisle (vacant) |
| Website: | carlislediocese.org.uk |
The Diocese of Carlisle was created in 11 April 1132 by Henry I out of part of the Diocese of Durham, although many people of Cumbric descent in the area looked to Glasgow for spiritual leadership. The first bishop was Æthelwold, who was the king's confessor and became prior of the Augustinian priory at Nostell in Yorkshire. Carlisle was thus the only cathedral in England apart from Bristol to be run by Augustinians instead of Benedictines. This only lasted until the reign of Henry III however, when the Augustinians in Carlisle joined the rebels who temporarily handed the city over to Scotland and elected their own bishop. When the revolt was ended, the Augustinians were expelled.
The seat of the diocese is the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in Carlisle.
The Diocese covers most of the ceremonial county of Cumbria; Alston Moor is part of the Diocese of Newcastle and the area around Sedbergh is within the Diocese of Leeds. The diocese originally only covered the northern parts of Cumberland and Westmorland, and expanded to cover almost the entirety of these, as well as the Furness and Cartmel areas of Lancashire, in 1847, from part of the Diocese of Chester, although this did not take effect until 1856.
Alongside the diocesan Bishop of Carlisle (vacant), the Diocese has one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Penrith (Rob Saner-Haigh).
There are four other retired bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:
Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese who reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV) the Bishop suffragan of Beverley, Glyn Webster. Until his retirement on 19 July 2014, AEO was provided by John Goddard, Bishop suffragan of Burnley (from neighbouring Blackburn diocese), who was licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.
The diocese of Carlisle is divided into three archdeaconries, each divided into a number of rural deaneries. The data in this table is a summation of the statistics found in the list of churches.
| Archdeaconries | Rural Deaneries | Paid clergy | Churches | Population | People/clergy | People/church | Churches/clergy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diocese of Carlisle | Archdeaconry of Carlisle | Rural Deanery of Carlisle | 16* | 34* | 88,404 | 5,525 | 2,600 | 2.13 | |
| Rural Deanery of Appleby | 3 | 33 | 19,451 | 6,484 | 589 | 11 | |||
| Rural Deanery of Brampton | 8 | 29 | 24,038 | 3,005 | 829 | 3.63 | |||
| Rural Deanery of Penrith | 9 | 34 | 30,003 | 3,334 | 882 | 3.78 | |||
| Archdeaconry of West Cumberland | Rural Deanery of Calder | 11 | 39 | 58,706 | 5,337 | 1,505 | 3.55 | ||
| Rural Deanery of Derwent | 9 | 35 | 28,292 | 3,144 | 808 | 3.89 | |||
| Rural Deanery of Solway | 10 | 27 | 66,803 | 6,680 | 2,474 | 2.7 | |||
| Archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness | Rural Deanery of Barrow | 5 | 9 | 55,474 | 11,095 | 6,164 | 1.8 | ||
| Rural Deanery of Furness | 8 | 25 | 42,866 | 5,358 | 1,715 | 3.13 | |||
| Rural Deanery of Kendal | 13 | 43 | 56,291 | 4,330 | 1,309 | 3.31 | |||
| Rural Deanery of Windermere | 8 | 26 | 26,013 | 3,252 | 1,001 | 3.25 | |||
| Total/average | 100 | 334 | 496,341 | 4,963 | 1,486 | 3.34 | |||
From 1889 to 1939, the diocese had one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness, and from 1939 until 1944, two suffragans bishops (Penrith and Barrow), before the see of Barrow went into the abeyance in which it remains to date.
See main article: List of churches in the Diocese of Carlisle.