The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.
The present diocese covers the vast majority of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells in Somerset.
The current bishop, since his confirmation of election on 4 March 2014, is Peter Hancock, the seventy-eighth Bishop, who signs Peter Bath: et Well:. He fully took up his duties upon his installation in a service at Wells Cathedral on 7 June 2014. The see had been vacant since Peter Price's retirement on 30 June 2013, during which time Peter Maurice (Bishop suffragan of Taunton) had acted as diocesan bishop.
The Bishop's residence is The Palace, Wells. In late 2013 the Church Commissioners announced that they were purchasing the Old Rectory, a Grade II-listed building in Croscombe for the Bishop's residence. However this decision was widely opposed, including by the Diocese, and in May 2014 was overturned by a committee of the Archbishops' Council.
Wells most commonly refers to:
Wells may also refer to:
Wells Crater is an impact crater in the Eridania quadrangle on Mars at 60.2°S and 237.9°W, and it is 103.0 km in diameter. Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), and it was named after H. G. Wells.
Wells is a surname of English origin, but is occasionally used as a given name too. It derives from occupation, location, and topography. The occupational name (i.e. "Wellman") derives from the person responsible for a village's spring. The locational name (i.e. "Well") derives from the pre-7th century waella ("spring"). The topographical name (i.e. "Attewell") derives from living near a spring. The oldest public record is found in 1177 in the county of Norfolk. Variations of Wells include Well, Welman, Welles, Wellman and Wellsman. At the time of the British Census of 1881 Wells Surname at Forebears, its relative frequency was highest in Berkshire (3.2 times the British average), followed by Leicestershire, Oxfordshire, Kinross-shire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Dumfriesshire and Bedfordshire. People with the name include: