This text provides an account of an important but neglected aspect of the history of the 19th-century Church of England: the reform of its diocesan structure. It illustrates how one of the most important institutions of Victorian England responded at a regional level to the pastoral challenge of a rapidly changing society. Providing a perspective on the impact of both the Oxford Movement and the Ecclesiastical Commission on the Church, the author shows that an appreciation of the dynamics of diocesan reform has implications for our understanding of secular as well as ecclesiastical reform in the early 19th century.