A NORTH clergywoman is being tipped to make history by becoming the Church of England’s first female bishop.

The Church is poised to rubber stamp the change tomorrow (Mon) with The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, Dean of York Minster, among the frontrunners to become the first female bishop.

She was one of the Church’s first women priests, the first woman to run an English cathedral and has been at the northern powerbase of York since 2012.

However, Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, vicar of Belmont and Pittington, near Durham, and a leading campaigner for women bishops, rated her own chances as “very unrealistic”, despite being quoted at 16-1 by bookmakers Ladbrokes.

“I’m only 41 and I’ve only been here two years. There’s no way I’m going to be a bishop,” she said.

Tomorrow, the Anglican General Synod is expected to approve legislation allowing women to be nominated and chosen as bishops “in minutes” when it meets in London.

It is thought the first female bishop could be appointed next year.

The first vacancy will be Southwell and Nottingham, previously held by Paul Butler, now Bishop of Durham, followed by Gloucester, Oxford and Newcastle.

However, a female assistant bishop could be named before that.

Dr Threlfall-Holmes said tomorrow was a symbolic, wonderful day and she was relieved.

“Since July it’s been like a glass ceiling has been lifted. It’s a really nice feeling.”

She said she would be very disappointed if only one or two women bishops were appointed as an “experiment” and she hoped every new bishop for the next few years was a woman, as there was a “backlog of talent”.