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The Western District of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland was created in 1827 when under a reorganisation by Pope Leo XII the Church was divided into three Vicariates (Eastern, Western and Northern). This arrangement superseded the former division into a Lowland Vicariate and a Highland Vicariate, which was in place from 1727 to 1827. The reorganisation was prompted by the gift to the Catholic Church in Scotland of the Blairs estate (near Aberdeen) by John Menzies of Pitfodels, to allow it to be used for a college for education of priests. The Western Vicariate or District was based on Glasgow and encompassed the counties of Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Dumbarton, Inverness (southern part), Lanark, Renfrew, Wigtown and the Western Isles.In the 1860s the Western District was coming under strain, mostly as a result of dissent between native Scottish Catholics and the large Irish immigrant population. There was a formal visitation instigated by the Holy See in October 1867 by Archbishop Manning of Westminster, and his resulting report recommended the removal of the two current bishops (Bishop Gray and his coadjutor, Bishop Lynch) to help establish harmony; but the other recommendation was the restoration of a normal hierarchy in Scotland. The two bishops were removed, Gray dying shortly afterwards and Lynch finding a new station in Ireland. To replace them Mgr Charles Eyre, currently in post in Hexham (Northumberland), was appointed in 1869 as Administrator Apostolic of the Western District and Apostolic Delegate to Scotland, to restore ecclesiastical authority in the District and establish the path for the restoration of the hierarchy.Eyre succeeded in re-establishing an effective administration in his District, and was able to devote time to the restoration of the hierarchy. In 1878 Pope Leo XIII signed the Letters Apostolic which gave effect to the restoration. There were six new dioceses, of which two were archdioceses: that of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the metropolitan see, and that of Glasgow, which obtained the titular status of archbishopric until it obtained sufrragan sees. The Glasgow Archdiocese's territory included Glasgow city and the counties of Ayr (part), Dumbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Stirling (part) and the islands of Greater and Little Cumbrae. Eyre became the first archbishop of Glasgow.
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