Downing Street has announced that the Revd Arwen Mary Folkes will be the next Dean of Exeter Cathedral, the first woman to hold the post in the Cathedral’s 970-year history and its 72nd Dean.
New Dean of Exeter Announced
Born in Barnstaple and baptised in Bideford, Revd Folkes grew up at the Lizard Lighthouse in Cornwall, where her father was one of the last live-in lighthouse keepers for Trinity House. She also spent part of her childhood at lighthouses on the North Devon coast. She is currently Vicar of St Mary-the-Virgin, Eastbourne, and is married to William, with whom she has three children.
Reflecting on the appointment, she said:
“It seems I have been entrusted with a new lighthouse, and a rather bigger one this time! I was born in Barnstaple while my father was a lighthouse keeper on the North Devon coast, so coming to Exeter feels very much like coming home. I have always believed a church should be like a lighthouse: steady, watchful and ready to shine for anyone caught in a storm. Exeter Cathedral has been that kind of Christ-light for centuries, through many seasons, and I am honoured and humbled to be called as one of her ‘keepers’. Most of all, I am looking forward to meeting, praying and serving with the people who already keep her light burning, the communities across Devon, and working hard to ensure the Cathedral can shine as the mother church for Exeter and the whole county.”
Before ordination, Revd Folkes founded and ran Real Baby Milk, a Cornish social enterprise, and served as an elected district councillor in Cornwall. She trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge, and holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Durham University. She served her curacy at St Just in Roseland in Cornwall, then moved to the Diocese of Chichester, serving in Seaford before becoming Vicar of Eastbourne.
The Bishop of Exeter, the Right Revd Dr Mike Harrison, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Arwen to Exeter Cathedral as our 72nd Dean and the historic first woman Dean of Exeter. Her roots are firmly in the South West, and she knows Cornwall and Devon well from her coastal upbringing and her many years of living and working in the region. The only question will be how she has her jam and cream! She brings a wealth of experience from both inside and outside the church, and understands that the Cathedral is called to be a place of hospitality, Christian witness and outreach, as well as a servant of the whole county. I look forward to working with her on the Diocese’s Pray, Grow, Serve 2035 vision, and to having Arwen and her family as near neighbours.”
The Right Revd Will Hazlewood, Bishop of Lewes, Acting Bishop of Chichester and a former parish priest in Devon, said:
“We will be very sorry to see Arwen leave the Diocese, but we are delighted that the wider Church will benefit from the many gifts so evident during her time with us. I know she will bring to Exeter the same faithfulness, evangelistic flair, compassion and strength of leadership that have marked her ministry among us, and I assure her of our ongoing prayers as she prepares for this exciting new calling.”
The Very Revd Stephen Waine, Interim Dean of Exeter, said:
“I am delighted that Arwen Folkes is to be the next Dean of Exeter, and I look forward to working with her as we begin the next part of the story of Exeter Cathedral. She will bring new insights and an enthusiasm for ministry within and beyond the Cathedral, and I look forward to supporting her as she begins her ministry here and across the Diocese. The ministry of the Dean is central to the Cathedral’s life as a place of prayer and meeting for the people of the city, the county of Devon and the Diocese of Exeter, and Arwen brings experience, joy and enthusiasm for the gospel.”
Revd Folkes will be installed as Dean at Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 9 May 2027.
