Nevertheless, the real evangelisation of the people who dwelt in the diocese was achieved through the labours and missionaries of the isle of Lindisfarne, off the Northumbrian coast.

On the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX on 29 September 1850, most of the Eastern District became the Diocese of Northampton.

On the shield are lilies and choughs, which are symbols of the two patrons of the diocese, and of the cathedral, Blessed Virgin Mary and Thomas of Canterbury.

He was succeeded by bishop Kevin John Patrick McDonald, who went on to be appointed Archbishop of Southwark on 6 November 2003.

On 29 September 2012, Bishop Peter Doyle made the Church of the Holy Child and St Joseph in Bedford a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, after a receiving the image from the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols.