The Diocese of Carlisle was created in 11 April 1132 by Henry I out of part of the Diocese of Durham, although many people of Cumbric descent in the area looked to Glasgow for spiritual leadership. The first bishop was Æthelwold, who was the king's confessor and became prior of the Augustinian priory at Nostell in Yorkshire. Carlisle was thus the only cathedral in England apart from Bristol to be run by Augustinians instead of Benedictines. This only lasted until the reign of Henry III however, when the Augustinians in Carlisle joined the rebels who temporarily handed the city over to Scotland and elected their own bishop. When the revolt was ended, the Augustinians were expelled.

The seat of the diocese is the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in Carlisle.

The Diocese covers most of the ceremonial county of Cumbria; Alston Moor is part of the Diocese of Newcastle and the area around Sedbergh is within the Diocese of Leeds. The diocese originally only covered the northern parts of Cumberland and Westmorland, and expanded to cover almost the entirety of these, as well as the Furness and Cartmel areas of Lancashire, in 1847, from part of the Diocese of Chester, although this did not take effect until 1856.

Alongside the diocesan Bishop of Carlisle (vacant), the Diocese has one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Penrith (Rob Saner-Haigh).

There are four other retired bishops living in the diocese who are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:

• 1994–present: George Hacker, a former Bishop suffragan of Penrith, lives in Milburn.
• 1999–present: Hewlett Thompson, retired Bishop of Exeter, lives in Warcop.
• 2003–present: A retired Bishop suffragan of Bedford, John Richardson, is licensed in both Carlisle and Newcastle dioceses and lives in Bewcastle.
• 2011–present: Richard Henderson, a former Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry (in Ireland) served as a Team Vicar in the Heart of Eden team ministry between 2011 and 2012.

Alternative episcopal oversight (for parishes in the diocese who reject the ministry of priests who are women) is provided by the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV) the Bishop suffragan of Beverley, Glyn Webster. Until his retirement on 19 July 2014, AEO was provided by John Goddard, Bishop suffragan of Burnley (from neighbouring Blackburn diocese), who was licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his work there.

The diocese of Carlisle is divided into three archdeaconries, each divided into a number of rural deaneries. The data in this table is a summation of the statistics found in the list of churches.

Diocese	Archdeaconries	Rural Deaneries	Paid clergy	Churches	Population	People/clergy	People/church	Churches/clergy
Diocese of Carlisle	Archdeaconry of Carlisle	Rural Deanery of Carlisle	16*	34*	88,404	5,525	2,600	2.13
		Rural Deanery of Appleby	3	33	19,451	6,484	589	11
		Rural Deanery of Brampton	8	29	24,038	3,005	829	3.63
		Rural Deanery of Penrith	9	34	30,003	3,334	882	3.78
	Archdeaconry of West Cumberland	Rural Deanery of Calder	11	39	58,706	5,337	1,505	3.55
		Rural Deanery of Derwent	9	35	28,292	3,144	808	3.89
		Rural Deanery of Solway	10	27	66,803	6,680	2,474	2.7
	Archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness	Rural Deanery of Barrow	5	9	55,474	11,095	6,164	1.8
		Rural Deanery of Furness	8	25	42,866	5,358	1,715	3.13
		Rural Deanery of Kendal	13	43	56,291	4,330	1,309	3.31
		Rural Deanery of Windermere	8	26	26,013	3,252	1,001	3.25
Total/average			100	334	496,341	4,963	1,486	3.34

*includes Cathedral

From 1889 to 1939, the diocese had one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness, and from 1939 until 1944, two suffragans bishops (Penrith and Barrow), before the see of Barrow went into the abeyance in which it remains to date.

• Church of England Statistics 2002 Archived 3 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Diocese of Carlisle
• Carlisle Diocese Youth Centre (St John's-in-the-Vale)

54°53′41″N 2°56′19″W / 54.8947°N 2.9385°W / 54.8947; -2.9385