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The Diocese of the Tenison Road Triangle is a small unused diocese located in the city of Cambridge. Created in 1979 as a legal fiction to allow two bishops to swap diocese, it has never held a cathedral and no worship has ever taken place there. The role of bishop is purely ceremonial: in one interview current bishop Anne Campbell stated that the Church of England had 'never ever contacted [her] again'.

History
In 1979, following a meeting of the Church of England representatives it was decided that bishops Jose Raúl de Arroyo of Lincoln and Walter Quentin Arlington of Wells should swap diocese. The reasons for the swap are unclear; however, it was a purely amicable affair. Unfortunately, rules at the time stated that a bishop departing a diocese had to move immediately to another or forfeit his/her right to be a bishop. The solution decided upon was to create a new diocese which one of the bishops could occupy while the other moved to his new diocese. The Tenison Road Triangle was chosen as both bishops had been students at the Anglia Ruskin University in the same city, and because its shape symbolized the Holy Trinity. In May of 1979, Arlington became the first bishop of the Tenison Road Triangle; following de Arroyo's move to Wells, he took up his place at Lincoln. There was slight controversy over the means taken to swap the bishops: several high-ranking priests spoke out against creating a new diocese, arguing that creating such a small 'throw-away' diocese cheapened the message of the Church. Alternative methods proposed were that of waiting until a bishop retired so his/her diocese could be occupied by Arlington and that of creating a new diocese of Cambridge, with Trinity College Chapel as cathedral, to be occupied by a full-time bishop after Arlington's move to Lincoln. However, neither of these plans was feasible: there were no bishops planning to retire for several years, and Trinity College pulled out at the last minute the £100,000,000 it had pledged for converting the Chapel into a cathedral. There were rumours that Trinity's rival St John's College was interested in converting its College Chapel into a cathedral; however, of all the suitable candidates for bishop, none were willing to take up a seat at St John's, one stating (in jest) that he 'would rather be Bishop of Oxford'.

After Arlington left the diocese, local resident Tommy Allwood Allers was chosen to be the second bishop after winning a competition organized by St Barnabas Church, whose parish completely encloses the diocese. His was arguably the most interesting term as bishop: it was discovered that prostitutes had been plying their wares on the Triangle, and Allers organized the building of several free guest houses on Tenison Road exclusively for them so that they would cease to defile the holy ground (in the absence of a cathedral, the entire diocese had been consecrated). These guest houses are now commercialized and no longer cater to prostitutes, who no longer use the Triangle, preferring the nearby station. Allers also started the tradition of holding Halloween parties for local children on the Triangle, and organized football games on it for the St Barnabas Church parish under fourteen team. It continued to be used as a recreation area until modern playgrounds were built at Ravensworth Gardens in 1999 and in St Barnabas court in 2004. It is still used for Halloween parties and is a common meeting place for teenagers.

More recently, bishops have played a diminishing role in the life of the diocese, and the seat is normally given to a politician or academic who is confirmed into the Church of England and is living within the parish of St Barnabas. Mathematician Timothy Gowers, who lives in nearby St Barnabas Road held it for a brief period in 1998 after winning the prestigious Fields Medal. However, he was forced to step down after it was discovered that he was an atheist. It was suggested that local shopkeeper Abdul Arain should take up the post after standing in the University Counsellor elections; however, he was unable to become bishop as he being a Muslim, was not confirmed into the Church. The current bishop is Anne Campbell, former Member of Parliament for Cambridge, who lives on St Barnabas Road and was offered the role of bishop after losing her seat to David Howarth in the 2005 general election.

Category:Church of England Category:Dioceses of the Church of England