The term former cathedral in this list includes any Christian[1] church (building) in Great Britain which has been the seat of a bishop,[2] but is not so any longer.
Traditionally, the medieval Scottish diocesan system was held to have been largely created by the Norman-influenced King David I (reigned 1124–1153), though this is an oversimplification.
Nevertheless, in this List, the large number of pre-Reformation cathedrals in Scotland has been split into two sections in an attempt to make the information more manageable.
The choice of the year 1100, though arbitrary, approximates to the beginning of the reign of King David I (1124) (see above) and is also close to the date of the Norman Conquest (1066) which has been used to separate the two sections of pre-Reformation cathedrals in the portion of this List covering England.
In order to assist users of this List to trace the development of the dioceses, the text of most entries is preceded by the name (in parentheses) of the late medieval Scottish diocese[135] into which each early cathedral merged, usually by a process of translation of the see to a new location.
During and after the Scottish Reformation (1560) cathedrals were increasingly neglected and abandoned, but episcopacy continued to be supported by Stuart Kings.
Scottish Episcopal Church The end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century left a Romano-British (later sometimes called "Celtic") church which became increasingly confined to the western parts of the island (principally modern Wales) as Angles, Saxons, and other invaders attacked and settled from the east.
This church grew in size and influence in the west during the 6th and 7th centuries (a period sometimes characterised in Wales as the "Age of the Saints")[227][228] with the conversion of ruling families (and consequently their peoples).
[248][249][250][251][252][253] Their role is not clear, but they must have been relatively important ecclesiastical sites (with St Davids having a higher status than any of the others).
Details of all seven bishop-houses are given below for the sake of completeness, although St Davids has never ceased to be the seat of a bishop.
The status of a bishop-house, as distinct from that of a cathedral (St Davids), seems not to have survived the ending of the Kingdom of Dyfed (in 920), even less the arrival of the Normans.
While the Isle of Man is not politically part of Great Britain,[264] but ecclesiastically it forms the Diocese of Sodor and Man in the Province of York of the Church of England,[265] and part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool for the Roman Catholic church, so it is included on this List.