At the climax of consecration services, a minimum of three bishops, and usually 10 times that number, gather around the cleric who is to be elevated and place their hands on his head.

At present, Dr Williams is expected to lead all consecrations in the southern province - the Archbishop of York is responsible for the north - but while the role is symbolically important it is not a legal requirement.

Dr Williams could appoint a number of traditionalist bishops to minister to the 400 or so parishes across the country that are expected to reject women bishops.

Senior insiders believe that all but the most diehard opponents of women bishops would feel able to remain under the archbishop's authority if he did not consecrate women personally.

The advantage of the plan, they argue, is that it falls well short of the extreme demands by the leaders of Forward in Faith, the traditionalist umbrella group, for a parallel church-within-a-church.

The traditionalists say they cannot accept the validity either of women bishops or of any male bishop who consecrates a woman.

They therefore want what they call "a third province", an enclave with its own archbishop, bishops, theological training colleges and synod, but no female clergy.

They have said that otherwise as many as 800 clergy could walk out of the Church when women become bishops, a reform both sides expect to occur within the decade.

The "third province" idea is totally unacceptable to the Church's leadership, which regards it as little more than officially sanctioned schism.

Dr Williams is sympathetic to a compromise and insiders believe that he would give up consecrating bishops if the General Synod asked him to do so for the sake of unity.

The House of Bishops is drawing up options to put before the synod in February when it debates legislation to allow women to become bishops.

END