For organizational purposes, the diocese was further divided into eight deaneries: Richmond, Wensley, Ripon, Harrogate, Allerton, Headingley, Armley and Whitkirk.

The former Diocese covered an area of 1,359 square miles, with a range of urban and rural parishes, these range from urban areas like Holbeck and Armley with New Wortley, urban centres like Ripon and Richmond and rural parishes like Danby Wiske with Hutton Bonneville in the Vale of Mowbray, Eryholme on the southern bank of the River Tees and Upper Nidderdale high in the Yorkshire Dales.

It was the first diocese to be created in England after the Reformation, and was erected on 5 October 1836 under the Established Church Act 1836.

[1] In a process which began with commission recommendations in 1989 and in 1997,[2] including Diocesan Synod on 20 June 1998,[3] General Synod approval in November 1998 and royal assent in May 1999, the diocese was renamed 'The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds' in order to reflect the demographic importance of Leeds within its boundaries; the name change to come into effect on 3 September 1999, the day after David Young's retirement as bishop.

[6] The merger came into force on 20 April 2014, at which point the Bradford, Ripon and Leeds and Wakefield dioceses merged.