The island’s Church of England bishop is to retire.

Peter Eagles will leave his job in the late autumn and will move with his wife Gail to southern England to be closer to family at the end of October.

The bishop, as the representative of the Established Church, is automatically given a seat in Legislative Council and therefore Tynwald. As such he is a lawmaker.

The announcement of the bishop’s retirement was made on last night to the Diocesan Synod of the Diocese of Sodor and Man, held in St Ninian’s Church, Douglas.

Bishop Peter will delegate the Diocesan Bishop’s powers during the impending vacancy to the Right Reverend Mark Davies, Bishop of Middleton in Manchester diocese.

It was summer of 2017, when Bishop Peter officially joined the diocese after the initial announcement of his appointment in March of the same year.

The 93rd Bishop of Sodor and Man was consecrated by Archbishop John Sentamu at York Minster.

This was followed by an installation service at Cathedral Isle of Man, Peel, a few weeks later.

In his letter, Bishop Peter says: ‘There is rarely a good time for a bishop to step down from the ministry of care for a diocese, but, continuing to discern my vocation in the light of God’s will, I believe that now is the right moment.’

His plan is to lay down his diocesan pastoral staff to the dean in the cathedral at a date to be confirmed in late October.

In his time with the diocese, Bishop Peter has been part of many extraordinary moments and has led the diocese through a series of key events including the pandemic.

Mrs Eagles was the diocesan president of the Mothers’ Union from 2019 to 2021.