FLEETWOOD
,
WILLIAM
(
1656
-
1723
),
bishop and antiquary
;
b.
1 Jan. 1656
— the
D.N.B.
has a full account of his life. He was
bishop
of
S. Asaph
1708-14
, and afterwards of
Ely
; he was a zealous
Whig
, and suffered in consequence in the last years of
Anne
's reign. As
bishop of S. Asaph
, he was ‘far above the standards of his age’; in his charge of
1710
he exhorted his
clergy
to preach in
Welsh
. He was
interested in the history of his diocese
, and there are notes by him on that subject in the
palace library of S. Asaph
; he gave much help to
Browne
Willis
and other
antiquaries
; and in
1713
published
The Life of S. Winefred
, in which he attacked the making of pilgrimages to
Holywell
. He was a remarkably eloquent
preacher
, and a number of his sermons appeared in print. He d.
4 Aug. 1723
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
