Three months later, on 18 September, Waltham was nominated to a canonry at St Andrew's Collegiate Church in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

[8] He was presented by King Richard II as rector of the Church of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted on 27 December 1379, a post which he held for under two years before he resigned on 22 April 1381.

Waltham is credited as the inventor of the writ of subpoena, having devised this court order to compel defendants to attend a trial.

At this time, the teachings of John Wycliffe and the Lollards were gaining popularity, and to suppress this movement, Waltham compelled the mayor and city of Salisbury to submit to the episcopal court and to prohibit conventicle meetings.

[21] The relationship between Waltham and the king has been a matter of speculation; it has been claimed that there was "scandalous talk of the king's affection for him",[9] but Richard's reputation was widely maligned after his downfall by his detractors (Thomas Walsingham notably made revisions to his Chronicle in 1394 which made allegations about Richard's relationship with Robert de Vere)[22] After serving seven years as bishop, Waltham died on 17 September 1395.

[9] The decision to grant to a commoner a grave amongst the Kings of England caused controversy, and in an attempt to appease detractors, Richard made a gift to the Abbey of a large sum of money and two copes.

[25] After Richard's downfall and death, he was buried in All Saints, King's Langley in 1400, but later re-entombed in Edward the Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey in 1413.

Waltham's grave is located in the north-west corner of the chapel, close to the tombs of Edward the Confessor and Richard II and Anne.

A memorial brass (now severely damaged) in the chapel pavement depicts Waltham dressed in mass vestments, wearing an espicopal mitre and carrying a pastoral crosier.