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Tributes paid to ex-Bishop of Norwich Peter Nott 

Tributes have been paid to the Rt Revd Peter Nott, former Bishop of Norwich, who died on August 20, aged 84.

Educated at Bristol Grammar School, Dulwich College and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Bishop Peter was ordained in 1961. He began his ordained ministry as a curate at Harpenden after which he was chaplain at Fitzwilliam College and then Rector of Beaconsfield.

In October 1977 he was consecrated Bishop of Taunton and served there until he became the 70th Bishop of Norwich in 1985, succeeding Maurice Wood.
 
In his first interview, he told the EDP of his support for women priests. He said: “I am strongly in favour, although I did not used to be. My mind was changed not by arguments, but by the experience of working with a woman minister.”
 
In the same interview, he spoke of the church’s place in politics. He said: “If there was no tension between Church and Government, one would suspect that the church was not doing its job.”
 
In 1992 he asked churchgoers to give five per cent of their take-home pay to the church when the diocese was facing its most serious ever financial crisis.
 
His most high profile role was to officiate the marriage of Prince Edward and his bride Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 after having met Prince Edward at Sandringham.
 
Three years before he retired he published Bishop Peter’s Pilgrimage: His Diary and Sketchbook, which charted, in words and pictures, a year-long Open Door pilgrimage across his diocese to coincide with its 900th anniversary.
 
He retired in 1999 to be succeeded by Bishop Graham James, and went on to serve as an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Oxford.
 
Reacting to the news of Bishop Peter's death, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James said: “I got to know Bishop Peter well during the 1988 Lambeth Conference, and he’s been a gentle support to me throughout his busy retirement.  I will be one of many who will miss his gentle pastoral wisdom.  A gifted artist, he was a man who observed the world around him carefully, and who frequently taught the value of silence and contemplation. He had a close and supportive family and Betty, his wife, will be very much in our prayers.”
 
Bishop Peter leaves his wife Betty, son Andrew and daughters Joanna, Victoria and Lucy.
 
Funeral details will be released shortly.

Pictured above is Bishop Peter Knott, picture courtesy of the Diocese of Norwich.

Article extracts from EDP24

Please add your own tributes and memories below. 

 
 


Published: 23/08/2018


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