It is with great sadness that we have received the news that the Rt Revd David Lunn, Bishop of Sheffield from 1980 to 1997, died on Monday 19th July.
We extend our sincere condolences to Esther, his wife, David, his step-son, and to all who mourn for him.
Bishop David exercised a long and distinguished ministry as Bishop of Sheffield.
A proud son of the North East, he was a parish priest in the Anglo Catholic tradition. In 1980, when he was called to the episcopate, the was the Team Rector of Cullercoates, and Area Dean of Tynemouth in the Diocese of Newcastle. His seventeen years as Bishop of Sheffield were eventful ones, and included, for example, the trauma of the Hillsborough Disaster, the tumultuous decision of the General Synod to enable the ordination of women as priests, and the controversies around the Nine O’clock Service.
Bishop David was a keen and gifted gardener and wrote an account of the roses in the garden at Bishopscroft. He also began a historical account of some of the parishes of our Diocese — publishing three volumes: Rivers, Rectors and Abbots (on Snaith and Adlingfleet); Kings, Canals and Coal (on the parishes around Hatfield); and Monks, Magnates and Motorways (on Laughton Deanery). He also wrote an introduction to the history of Sheffield Cathedral. Since his retirement, +David has been an honorary bishop in the Diocese of York.
We understand the funeral service will take place at Wetwang Parish Church, in the village to which he and Esther retired. At some future point, we anticipate that Bishop David’s cremated remains will be interred at Sheffield Cathedral and we hope that that occasion will provide an opportunity for a service of commemoration and thanksgiving. Further details will be published as soon as they are available.
Acting Dean of Sheffield Cathedral, the Revd Canon Geoffrey Harbord says:
Many will be saddened to hear of the recent death of Bishop David Lunn, just days after his 91st birthday. David Ramsay Lunn was the 5th Bishop of Sheffield from 1980 until his retirement in 1997. Having famously said that, before his appointment, he had only once visited Sheffield - on a bus from Rotherham – he became immensely committed to the diocese and was greatly loved by both people and clergy – of whom I myself, ordained by him in 1983 and 1984, was one.
Whilst some points of church administration were a burden to him – he allegedly was often the last to arrive at General Synod and the first to depart from it – he was a great encourager to all in their ministry in the diocese as well as a chronicler of its history. He published three volumes of a projected history of the parishes of the diocese, and also a most valuable work on the history of the Cathedral. Unforgettable were his efforts to bring together the somewhat disparate strands of the diocese in two great Pentecost eucharists at Doncaster racecourse as well as on pilgrimages to such places as Lindisfarne, Whitby, Hexham, St Albans and even Walsingham, usually accompanied by Bishop David writing booklets to explain the history of each place.
His departure from the diocese was in the form of a farewell fiesta on the forecourt of the Cathedral and it is appropriate that, as we understand, his remains are eventually to rest in its crypt chapel of All Saints. As we remember his life with great thanksgiving, and pray for his widow and family, we ask God’s mercy that we together with him may come to the eternal joys of the kingdom of heaven.