ABSTRACT
It is essential, if one is to understand the scope of the cases that came before the consistory court, to comprehend the structure of Chester diocese. In origin it was one of the six dioceses founded by Henry VIII in 1541. The new diocese was created by removing the archdeaconry of Chester from the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry and the archdeaconry of Richmond from the huge diocese of York. The archdeaconry of Chester included within its boundaries the county of Chester and all Lancashire, south of the Ribble, the Welsh counties of Denbigh and Flint, and a few isolated parishes in Carmarthen and Caernarvon.
