page_title: Diocese of Sodor and Man
section_title: Later history
hierarchical_section_title: Diocese of Sodor and Man / Later history
caption_attribution_description: English: 2006 view of Peel Cathedral
context_page_description: The Diocese of Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets. Today, the bishop's office is in Douglas and the cathedral is in Peel. The diocese is not generally called either "Sodor diocese" or "Man diocese".
context_section_description: The original cathedral of the Diocese of Sodor and Man was on St Patrick's Isle at Peel. This cathedral fell into disuse during the 18th century and for many years the Bishop's chapel at Bishopscourt, near Kirk Michael, served as a Pro-cathedral. This was a Gothic building, rebuilt in 1814 and again in 1858, and dedicated to St Nicholas.  In 1979 Bishopscourt was sold, and the following year the parish church of St German in Peel was designated as "the Cathedral Church of St German" by Act of Tynwald.
  An 1836 proposal to subsume the diocese into the Diocese of Carlisle was defeated, as was the 1875 proposal that the Diocese of Liverpool (then at the planning stage, founded 1880) should include the Isle of Man.
  Since the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom, the bishop is never a Lord Spiritual and cannot sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. However he is an ex officio member of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man. Nevertheless, in common with other Church of England Crown Appointments, the appointment of the bishop is still made on the advice of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. However, unlike diocesan bishops in England, who are formally elected by the canons of the cathedral church in accordance with HM The Queen's congé d'elire, the Bishop of Sodor and Man is appointed directly by HM The Queen by letters patent.
  The name of the diocese served as inspiration for the fictional Isle of Sodor, the primary setting of Rev. Wilbert Awdry's The Railway Series and the later Thomas the Tank Engine TV series, which place the island in the Irish Sea.
caption: The modern Peel Cathedral
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