Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven

It is divided into seven rural deaneries: Ewecross, Harrogate, Richmond, Ripon, Skipton, and Wensley, all in Yorkshire and Bowland in Lancashire.

[5] By way of compensation for this loss, Thurstan, Archbishop of York, conferred upon the Archdeacon all the privileges and prerogatives of a bishop, with the exception that he could not ordain, consecrate, or confirm.

[5] The Archdeacon had his own consistory court at Richmond in Yorkshire, where wills were proved, licences and faculties granted, and all matters of ecclesiastical cognizance dealt with.

[5] In 1541 King Henry VIII established the See of Chester in Lancashire, into which the office of Archdeacon of Richmond was incorporated, although its judicial powers were transferred to the See of York.

[5] Although its revenues suffered serious diminution and its position had become that of a commissary elected by the Bishop of Chester, the Archdeacon continued to exercise the same authority, judicial and otherwise, as his predecessors[5] and retained his stall within the choir of York Minster.