ABSTRACT
The machinery for the administration of this difficult and poor diocese was clumsy and involved since it differed in many ways from that operating in other English dioceses. In the Middle Ages, the archdeacons of Chester and Richmond had acquired additional powers. The archdeacon of Richmond, by an agreement arranged with Archbishop William Melton in 1331, was granted quasi-episcopal powers, an agreement that implied that at some date in the future a strong archdeacon, with powerful lay support, would be able to create an independent archdeaconry of Richmond, which could be elevated to diocesan status. 1
