Find a Church

Click here to find a church in Windermere Deanery.

• Cartmel Peninsula Mission Community
• Central Lakes Mission Community
• South Lakes Mission Community

From the Langdales to Morecambe Bay, fells, valleys, meres and pastoral tranquillity this is the Windermere Deanery. Tourism is our staple industry, from the milling crowds of Bowness to the poetic calm of Rydal and William Wordsworth.

Not to be outdone Sawrey near Hawkshead boasts Beatrix Potter and nearby in Rusland is the grave of Arthur Ransome. Westminster Bridge, Wild Cat Island and Jemima Puddleduck in many ways sums up this part of Cumbria. Intellectual, recreation and fund. There are twenty-one parishes from high to nearly low, from urban to rural from the might of Cartmel to the humility of Colton, if you can find it, halfway up a fell side.

Rydal Hall is neatly situated in the Deanery. As a tourist area it is not, as some suppose, rich and the growing number of holiday homes is a constant worry; in some parishes as much as 50% of all dwellings are holiday homes. Despite this Windermere is an exporting Deanery in that it contributes more to the Diocese coffers than is required to run the parishes and the number of stipendiary priests is now down to nine.

We have a happy Synod and a Rural Dean and lay chairman who complement one another and are working to make the Deanery an entity rather than just a name.

Lord thank you for the beauty that surrounds us, that speaks to us of you. Keep us - and those who visit us - open to you through your creation. Amen.