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Visit Ripon and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:
Ripon, West Riding, is a small market town with a great cathedral and a Horn-blower in three-corner hat who nightly sounds a horn at the market cross and in front of the Mayor's house, carrying out a tradition said to be 1,000 years old.
An Anglo-Saxon church destroyed in 950 stood where the relatively small but impressive cathedral now stands. Building took place mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries but important changes were made in later centuries, including a 19th-century restoration. The oldest part, and one of the oldest Christian shrines in England, is the crypt, all that remains of the original Church of St Wilfrid and very like the crypt from his church of the same period at Hexham. It lies below the central tower. The west front is exceptionally beautiful Early English work. Among notable furnishings are a late l5th-century screen and misencords of the same period by the local carvers' guild, among them delightful versions of Samson, Jonah, a pelican, fox and geese, pigs, an owl and an angel.
The heart of the town is the rectangular market place with its dominating 90-ft obelisk raised in 1781 to William Aislabie of Studley Royal, the M.P. for 60 years. The Town Hall, designed by James Wyatt in 1801, faces the square, and the medieval Wakeman's House is near one corner. The house was built in the 13th century and the Wakeman, or night watchman, lived there. If householders who had paid for his services were robbed, the Wakeman paid the loss. Under a 1604 charter, Wakemen were replaced by mayors. Hugh Ripley was last Wakeman and first Mayor.
Ripon was a clothmaking centre in the Middle Ages, but by the 16th century the trade was moving to towns in the West of Yorkshire. This also was a lacemaking centre, the only one in the county. Probably the craft was started by refugee monks or nuns. By 1862, only one lacemaker was left. Ripon was also famous for its spurs.
The city motto is inscribed on the Town Hall in glittering letters: “Except ye Lord keep ye cittie, ye Wakeman waketh in vain.”
Nearby towns: Bedale, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Masham, Pateley Bridge, Thirsk
Nearby villages: Azerley, Baldersby, Birstwith, Bishop Monkton, Boroughbridge, Burton Leonard, Copgrove, Copt Hewick, Cundall, Darley, Dishforth, Fearby, Ferrensby, Grantley, Grewelthorpe, Ingerthorpe, Kirkby Malzeard, Kirklington, Melmerby, Mickley, Nidd, Ripley, Roecliffe, Sinderby, Stainley, Studley Roger, Summer Bridge, Topcliffe, Winksley
Have you decided to visit Ripon or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:
- a Ripon bed and breakfast (a Ripon B&B or Ripon b and b)
- a Ripon guesthouse
- a Ripon hotel (or motel)
- a Ripon self-catering establishment, or
- other Ripon accommodation
Accommodation in Ripon:
Find availability in a Ripon bed and breakfast, also known as B&B or b and b, guesthouse, small hotel, self-catering or other accommodation.