THE first female Church of England priest to become a bishop is to return to her northern roots.

The Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley was appointed as the Bishop of Waikato in New Zealand, three years ago in 2014.

And now she has been announced as the next suffragan Bishop of Ripon following the retirement earlier this year of Bishop James Bell.

She was born in Edinburgh in 1973 but grew up in the North-East. She is the fourth generation of her family to be ordained, and was priested in 2006 in the Diocese of Oxford.

The diocesan Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines said, “I am delighted to welcome Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley as the new Bishop of Ripon.

"She brings expertise as a theologian, and episcopal experience from the wider Anglican Communion. She will add great strengths to the leadership and ministry of this diocese.”

Dr Hartley will officially begin her new ministry on February 4 next year when she will be welcomed and installed at a service in Ripon Cathedral.

“I am excited, delighted, surprised and deeply humbled by the call to take up the role of the Bishop of Ripon,” she said.

“I look forward to getting my feet on the ground, listening and learning, and helping to root and grow the vision that Bishop Nick has for the Diocese of Leeds in the Ripon episcopal area.

"I rejoice in joining a dynamic episcopal team, and look forward immensely to working alongside my brother bishops.”

She added: “Both my husband Myles and I have firm roots in the north: Myles in Cumbria, and myself in the North-East. Returning to the north, and to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales brings with it a deep sense of coming home, and I thank God for this call.”