Tributes have been paid to the Rt Rev Kenneth Woollcombe, a former Bishop of Oxford, who has died aged 84.

Bishop Kenneth, who was Bishop of Oxford from 1971 to 1978, died in Worcestershire on Monday.

Bishop Kenneth had a distinguished academic career alongside his role in the Church.

He was ordained in 1951 and served as a curate at St James, Great Grimsby.

He was a Tutor at St John's College, Oxford, from 1953-60, Professor of Dogmatic Theology in New York from 1960-63, Principal of Edinburgh Theological College and Canon of St Mary's Cathedral from 1963-71, before being appointed Bishop of Oxford after succeeding Bishop Harry Carpenter.

More than 800 people from across the diocese witnessed the ceremony early in 1971 to enthrone Oxford's 39th Bishop.

Bishop Kenneth's arrival was greeted with optimism and high expectation. And it soon became clear he was a talent spotter who used people well in the diocese and brought in able people from outside.

In 1978, he left Oxford to become an assistant bishop to Gerald Ellison, the Bishop of London.

He resigned as Bishop of Oxford because he said he could not carry on the work after the death of his first wife Gwendolyn Hodges in 1976.

In 1980, he married his second wife Juliet Dearmer.

The following year he was appointed Canon Residentiary and Precentor of St Paul's Cathedral, where he remained until his retirement to Worcester in 1991.

The Rt Rev John Pritchard, the current Bishop of Oxford, said: "Bishop Kenneth was a distinguished Bishop of Oxford, noted for his scholarship and his profound gifts as a thinker.

"He took the diocese through the 1970s with confidence and clear leadership. After the sad death of his first wife, he found new contentment in his marriage to Juliet and his new role at St Paul's Cathedral.

"The diocese remembers him with affection and respect.

"May he rest in peace and rise in glory."

In 1991, the former bishop retired and his wife took over four rural parishes in Worcestershire, while he provided the priestly back-up.

She was made a priest in 1994 and they finally retired to Pershore in 1998.

He was an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Worcester and conducted a survey of the Dudley area in preparation for the transfer of one deanery from the Diocese of Lichfield to the Diocese of Worcester.

Several falls made Bishop Kenneth frail, but he retained his great gift for friendship.

Three daughters from his first marriage, and his wife and their daughter survive him.