Ripon is a considerable market-town, situated on a rising ground between the river Ure on the north, and the little river Skell on the south, within a short distance from their source. Over the former river, and at a small distance from the town, is a handsome stone bridge of seventeen arches. There are also five other bridges within a short distance of the town, to which a navigable canal is cut from the Ure. Here is only one church, which is collegiate, and in some respects parochial, as the inhabitants have the benefit of its use without the charge of a church-rate. The town consists almost wholly of narrow and crooked lanes; the street leading to the church from the marketplace, being the only one that appears any thing like regular. The marketplace however is a handsome and spacious square, surrounded with well-built houses, and ornamented with a beautiful obelisk, ninety feet high, erected in the year 1781, by William Aislabie, Esq. of Studley, who represented this borough in parliament during the long space of sixty years. Here is also an elegant town-hall, erected in 1801, at the expense of Mrs. Allason, then proprietor of Studley-Royal. The Free Grammar-School here was endowed in 1553 by King Philip and Queen Mary. Here is also a public dispensary, Sunday Schools, a School of Industry, besides four hospitals, three of which are of very ancient foundation; viz. St. Mary Magdalen, inhabited by six poor women; St. John, appropriated to two; and St. Anne, which has revenues for the relief of eight women, each of whom have a habitation and an allowance of 3l. 15s. per annum. Jepson’s Hospital was founded by Zacharias Jepson, of York; here twelve poor boys are maintained, clothed, and educated. Here is also a new theatre, built by the late George Hassel, Esq. and opened in August 1792. Ripon has a good market on Thursday.

This town was once so much celebrated for its manufacture of spurs, that, "As true steel as Ripon rowels," became a proverbial expression, when speaking of a man of fidelity, honesty, or intrepidity. The woollen manufacture also flourished here formerly to a considerable extent. Ripon is among the most ancient boroughs of England, having sent members to parliament in the 23rd year of Edward I. At present the number of voters is about 146, and the Mayor is the returning officer.

The origin of the town is without doubt to be referred to a very ancient area. Its proximity to the Roman city Isurium, now Aldborough; and the various Roman roads which pass it at no great distance on each side, with the peculiar beauties and advantages of its situation, might lead us to imagine that it was not wholly unknown to that people; but as none of these roads take their course through the town, it precludes the supposition that it ever was a Roman station.

Soon after the declension of the Roman power in this country, we find it in a flourishing state, having a monastery founded by Eata, abbot of Melross, of which we shall hereafter give a more particular description.

Ripon received its first charter of incorporation in the fourteenth year of the reign of Alfred the Great.

Its government was then vested in a chief magistrate, under the name of a vigilarius, or wakeman, 12 elders, and 24 assistants, the former of whom some authors have been very erroneously led to imagine, derived his title from watch and ward having been kept here, asserting that the town was inclosed by walls; but of this opinion there seems to be no confirmation. The foundations of such walls, or the smallest traces of them, having never yet been discovered. It was the duty of the vigilarius, or wakeman, to cause a horn to be blown every night at nine o’clock; after which, if any house or shop was robbed before sunrise next morning, the sufferer received a compensation for the loss, from an annual tax of fourpence levied upon every inhabitant, whose dwelling had but one, and of eightpence where it had two outer doors, from which latter circumstance double danger might be suspected. The tax, together with the good effects arising from it, is now fallen into disuse, but the custom of blowing the horn is continued to this day.

The town of Ripon had scarcely recovered the injury it sustained from the Danes, and begun again to flourish, when in A. D. 947 it suffered, if possible, a more extensive devastation, in the war of extirpation which King Edred waged against those turbulent people, irritated by their rebellious and faithless conduct.

In A. D. 948 he commenced the desolation of their towns and villages, and amongst others he destroyed this place by a general conflagration, with all its public buildings.

By the exertions of its former inhabitants, and the encouragement of Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, the town was rebuilt in 950, and again began to flourish.

After the siege of York, 1069, William the Conqueror ravaged an extent of territory, part of the Northumbrian kingdom, sixty miles in length, and Ripon, with the adjacent country, was so completely destroyed, that, sixteen years after, when the Doomsday survey was made, it remained waste and uncultivated.

The peace, however, which succeeded, enabled the town once more to revive, and it continued undisturbed until the reign of Edward II. when the Scots, under the command of Robert Bruce, in 1316, after making themselves masters of the most important fortresses of the north, marched into this place, and after remaining three days, imposed, and with difficulty levied upon the inhabitants a tribute of One Thousand Marks; remembering their former good fortune, and elated with the hopes of similar success, they returned the following year, and demanded the same ransom; which the people being unable to raise, the invaders entirely destroyed the town by fire, and massacred the greatest part of the inhabitants.

Soon after this calamity, and a stop being put to the incursion of the Scots, Ripon, by the liberal donations of the Archbishop of York, and the neighbouring gentry, together with the industry of its inhabitants, was in a few years restored to a flourishing condition, and even for a short time became the residence of the court; for in the year 1405, King Henry IV. being obliged to leave London, on account of the plague, retired to Ripon, with his whole court.

In the year 1604 the civil constitution of the town was changed, and, by the exertions of Mr. Hugh Ripley, a charter of incorporation was obtained from King James I. vesting the municipal government in a mayor, recorder, and twelve aldermen, assisted by twenty-four common-council men, and a town clerk, with the subordinate offices of two serjeant-at-mace.

In 1657, the Lord Protector of England granted to the borough of Ripon, his letters-patent for holding a fair every alternate week.

The mayor is elected annually on the first Tuesday in January, and enters upon the duties of his office on the second of February following. The better to support his station he has the toll of corn and grain sold in the market, called the hand-low, or market-sweepings, which was enjoyed by the wakeman, previous to the Conquest, and was confirmed to the corporation in the year 1532-3, by King Henry VIII.

The ancient church of Ripon was first established for canons of St. Augustine, and was dissolved by Henry VIII. The chantries were afterwards dissolved by Edward VI. James I. in the second year of his reign, re-founded the church, and endowed it with part of its former revenues. It is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Wilfrid, and the foundation consists of a dean, sub-dean, and six prebendaries; out of these the dean, upon a vacancy, elects the subdean; and, as to the prebendaries, the dean and chapter nominate three persons to the Archbishop of York, who must collate one of them.

The church is a noble Gothic structure, tolerably entire, but visibly erected and altered at different periods, in several instances exhibiting curious changes from the Saxon to the Gothic style of building.

At the west end, which presents a rich specimen of the Gothic style, are two uniform square towers, 110 feet high, on each of which, at the rebuilding of the church by Archbishop Thurlston, was placed a spire of timber, covered with lead, of the height of 120 feet; but these were removed in the year 1797, by order of the chapter, and the materials sold. At the same time were added open battlements, with pinnacles at each corner. In 1801 also, the inside walls of the church were repaired and coloured. The floor of the church has been entirely relaid, and chiefly new-flagged.

The two side aisles were probably added to the body of the church about the time of Richard III. or the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. The choir was likewise extended to the east; and about the same time several windows were lengthened and altered from the round to the pointed arch. Two of the four large Saxon arches, supporting the great tower (called Wilfrid’s), which is 110 feet high, were changed to the pointed arch, and two of the pinnacles, with part of the raised battlements which were then added, still remain.

Upon Saint Wilfrid’s tower stood also a noble spire 120 feet high, but of much larger dimensions than those before described, which was blown down on the eighth of December, 1660. By the fall of the spire the arched roof of the choir was entirely broken in, the fine Gothic canopies over several of the stalls were destroyed, and the body of the church received so much damage, that the estimate for rebuilding the steeple, and other necessary repairs, amounted to the sum of six thousand pounds and upwards; for this a brief was obtained the same year, (12th Charles II.) With the money collected upon it, and other contributions, the church underwent a complete repair. The knots or centre blocks of the groined roof, which also was then broken in, are still preserved in the chapter-house, and exhibit very curious specimens of carving in oak, of figures, foliage, &c.

A considerable part of the present minster was begun in 1331, and finished in 1494, as appears from dates in the choir, so that from the beginning to the end of the work, there was a space of one hundred and sixty-three years.

From the west entrance on each side of the body are six pillars, including the corner pillars in both numbers, which form five arches; on the second pillar, at the west end of the north aisle, are two shields of arms cut in stone, one containing the arms of the town, the other those of the Picard family, who were great benefactors to the repairs of the fabric in the time of Edward III. On the south wall of the choir are also the arms of the Picards, and some other benefactors, supposed to be of the same date.

The choir is separated from the other part of the church by a partition screen of stone, nearly twenty feet high, and ornamented with curious carved work; in the middle of it is the door into the choir, over which is placed the organ.

At the west entrance into the choir are stalls for the dean, sub-dean, and prebendaries, enriched with much carved work, similar to those in the cathedral at York; of these the dean’s stall is on the right, and the sub-dean’s on the left hand of the entrance; the rest are assigned to the prebendaries, by a label over each. They were begun in the year 1489, and finished in the year 1494, at the charge, as is supposed, of Archbishop Rotherham.

There are thirteen other stalls on the north side of the choir, appropriated to the use of the mayor and aldermen; on the south side are the archbishop’s throne, and eleven other stalls, generally occupied by the common-council men of the borough, and below on each side of the choir, are seats for the vicar’s-coral, singing-men, choristers, and inhabitants.

The seats in the stalls are all of oak, and when turned up, exhibit different richly carved representations of animals, figures, and foliage. The finials before the stalls, and the crockets to the seats, are of exquisite workmanship, particularly those at the dean’s, sub-dean’s, and archbishop’s seats, as are also two small canopies, one near the mayor’s, the other adjoining the archbishop’s seat.

In the transept, to the north, near the entrance into the choir, stands a stone pulpit of curious workmanship. The following are the dimensions of the church: Feet. Inches. Above the chapter-house is the Library, consisting chiefly of ancient books of divinity, with a few classical works, and some manuscripts. St Wilfrid’s needle, is a passage leading to a small chapel under the pavement of the great tower. This chapel, or crypt, is ten feet and a half in length, seven feet and a half in breadth, and nine feet high, and is supposed to have been used for the services of the Holy Week, and probably for penitentiary purposes.

The Altarpiece is a curious perspective painting, representing a fine colonnade; but unfortunately it exhibits a different order of architecture from that of the church.

The whole of the east window was formerly filled with painted glass, much of which was destroyed by the soldiers, under the command of Sir Thomas Mauleverer, anno 1643. What parts of the broken glass could be collected, were replaced in the window, and the whole renewed with painted glass, executed by the late W. Peckitt, of York.

In the middle compartment of this window, are the arms of James I., with an inscription commemorating the restoration and re-endowment of this Collegiate Church by that monarch: here are also the arms of William Markham, late Archbishop of York; of Peter Johnson, Esq., late Recorder of York, and Judge on the Dean and Chapter’s Court at Ripon, with those of Dean Waddilove. In the other compartments are the arms of Beilby Porteus, late Lord Bishop of London; of J. Robinson, Lord Bishop of London, and Ambassador to the Hague at the Treaty of Utrecht; of the Lords Grantham and Grantley; of Blackett and Ingleby, Barts.; those of the church and town, and some of the Deans and Prebendaries.

There are many handsome monuments in the church, and several of considerable antiquity. In the north cross aisle, on an ancient altar-tomb of freestone, are two whole length figures, and upon the sides are shields with the arms of Neville, Scrope, Strafford, and others, which, however, are much defaced. In the south aisle of the nave, on a grey marble altar-tomb of very ancient workmanship, are represented the figures of a man and a lion, in a grove of trees. No legible inscription is at present to be found upon it, but the tradition is, that it was placed over the body of an Irish Prince, who died at Ripon, when returning from his travels.

The sepulchral monuments, upon the whole, are too numerous to be detailed here. Many belong to the Blacketts, Kitchenmans, Redsdales, Wanleys, Oxleys, the Nortons of Sawley, the Weddels of Newby, the Mallories and Aislabies of Studley, the Markenfields, &c. The design of a monument here, to the memory of W. Weddel, Esq. of Newby, is taken from the lanthorn of Demosthenes, at Athens. The Chapter-house also contains a handsome monument, after a design of Bacon, to the memory of Anne Hope Darley, consort of the Rev. Dr. Waddilove. This monument also commemorates two of their children. The Vestry, and the Chapter-house, on the south side of the choir, seem to be by far the most ancient parts of the building, and might be taken for some remains of St. Wilfrid’s original church.

In the Chapter-house are several paintings on panels, representing Edward II., Richard II., Henry IV., V:, and VI., James I.; his Queen and his son Prince Henry, elder brother of Charles I.; Richard III., and Elizabeth his consort; Henry VIII.; Catherine Parr, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Edward IV., and Queen Mary. Here are also preserved several antique curiosities found in different parts of the fabric." Ripon church (Mr. Bigland observes) has of late received considerable embellishments, through the laudable exertions of the present Dean, Dr. Waddilove, whose constant attention has been to repair and adorn this venerable structure. Beside the renewal of the east window, he added, in the year 1797, open battlements to the towers, with pinnacles to each corner; and in 1804, repaired the inside walls of the church. He also caused the floor to be entirely relaid, and for the most part new flagged. In short, it is to his good taste, and his active superintendence, that the fabric owes its present superb appearance." Among the many charitable institutions in this town, we have first to notice: The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, in Stamner-gate, was endowed by Thurston, Archbishop of York, in the time of Henry the First, for lepers. This hospital was at its institution under the government of sisters, assisted by a chaplain, and appropriated for the relief of persons afflicted with the leprosy; and to prevent the contagion from reaching the inhabitants of the town, this building was erected about two furlongs from it. But when leprosy became less frequent, it was converted to the use of sisters and brethren, under the superintendence of a master, who was bound to relieve distressed clergy, and the poor.

This hospital at present consists of a range of buildings, divided into six separate dwellings, and is now inhabited by six poor widows, who have their situation, together with the yearly allowance of three pounds each for life, together with the rent of the field adjoining to the hospital. The chapel is on the east side of the road. The hospital was rebuilt by Hooke.

Divine service is still performed in the chapel on the Sunday after the 22nd of July, and on the feasts of St. John and St. Thomas.

The mastership of it is in the gift of the Archbishop of York; to which the Dean of Ripon, for the time being, has of late years been appointed.

The Hospital of St. John Baptist was founded by one of the archbishops of York, early in the reign of King John; but for what number of poor does not now appear. This building is small, and at present appropriated to the habitation of two poor sisters, who have each an annual allowance of one pound seven shillings and sixpence. Near the hospital is a chapel, dedicated to St. John Baptist, in which divine service was celebrated every Sunday until the year 1722. In it was a chantry said to be founded by John Sherwood, who also founded a chantry in Ripon church, and is buried near the steps to the altar, under an old uninscribed gravestone. The Archbishop of York is patron of this hospital, which is styled the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, in Bond-gate, in the parish of Ripon.

The Hospital of St. Anne, sometimes called ' Maison de Dieu', is said to have been founded by some of the Nevills, in the reign of Edward IV. On the outside of the building are the arms of Sir Solomon Swale, with initial letters and a date, "S. S. 1654." When James I. came to Ripon, April 15, 1617, he was presented by the corporation with a gilt bow and a pair of spurs; the latter article cost 5l. Ripon spurs might be forced through a half-crown.

A navigable canal comes up to the town, by which coals are brought and merchandise conveyed to and from York, Hull, London, &c."There are several mills for various purposes, erected upon streams branching from the rivers Skell and Laver; one of these streams runs through a street called Skillgate; from this the town is well supplied with excellent water, by means of an engine erected at the expense of William Askwith, Esq. by which water is conveyed into every house at a small annual rent, Numerous springs, in and near the town, add to the many benefits it receives from the nature of its situation; two of these are inclosed for cold baths, and a third, of very fine water is received into a bason in a kind of alcove. This was erected at the expense of the late Wm. Richardson, M.D. with this inscription: "Utilitate Publicae.

A. C. MDCCLVIII" The Archbishop of York has a criminal court and prison for the liberty of Ripon; the courthouse and prison stands on the north-side of the church, on the site of the palace; the Archbishop of York is lord, and custos rotulorum of this liberty, and on the nomination the archbishop, and by his Majesty’s commission; justices of the peace are appointed, who in conjunction with the mayor and recorder, hold a sessions here, and act in as judicial a manner for the towns and districts within the liberty, as the justices for the several Ridings within the county. Besides the sessions there is a court of common pleas, called the court military, held here on the Monday in every third week, for the trial of all civil causes arising within the liberty, in which the archbishop’s learned steward, appointed by patents, presides as judge.

The courtyard in front of the prison is open and airy, being 80 yards by 50. Felons have not the privilege of walking in it, the wall which encloses it being only six feet high.

The dean and chapter have also a prison, and hold a court of pleas here, called the canon fee court, on the Tuesday in every third week, for the recovery of debts, and the trial of civil causes arising within the manor, which extends over some parts of the town, and likewise includes the townships of Aismunderby, with Bondgate, Skelton, Markington with Wallerthwaite, and Nunwick with Howgrave.

The remains of a very ancient custom is still generally observed by the inhabitants of this town. On Midsummer-eve, every housekeeper, who has in that year changed his residence, into a new neighbourhood, (there being certain limited districts called neighbourhoods), spreads a table before his door in the street, with bread, cheese, and ale, for those who choose to resort to it, where after staying awhile, if the master is of ability, the company are invited to supper, and the evening is concluded with mirth and good humour. The origin of this custom is unknown, but it probably was instituted for the purpose of introducing new comers to an early acquaintance with their neighbours; or it may have been with the more laudable design of settling differences by the meeting and mediation of friends.

The feast of St. Wilfrid is celebrated annually, and continues nearly a week. On Saturday after Lammas-day, an effigy of the prelate is brought into the town, preceded by music; the people go out to meet it, and with every demonstration of joy, commemorate the return of their former patron from exile. The next day is dedicated to him, being called St. Wilfrid’s Sunday.

At the east end of the town, and not far from the minster, is a remarkable tumulus, commonly called Ellshaw, or Ailcey Hill, made up of human skeletons, laid in regular order, greatly decayed, discernible from the bottom to the top of the hill. Camden says in his time it was called Hill Shaw. Its shape is conical; the circumference at the base is about 900 feet, the length of the side near the road is about 222 feet. The tradition is, that it was raised by the Danes; others have conjectured the hill to be formed of the rubbish of a monastery, ruined in the contests of the Danes and Saxons; but the vast quantity of human bones found in digging it, without the least appearance of any mortar or cement, leaves no room to doubt that it was a repository of tile dead. We are, however, inclined to adopt the opinion of Mr. Thoresby, who, speaking of the coins of Ælla, Osbright, Alfred, Ealred, and Ethelred, found at Ripon, A. D. 1695, and transmitted to him by the Archbishop of York, concludes that it derives its name from Ælla, King of Northumberland.

The Danes and other northern people used in this manner to inter those who fell in battle.

At what time or on what occasion this monument was formed, must still remain uncertain; but it is highly probable that the vast number of bodies deposited here, have been of persons who fell in some dreadful conflict near this place, so often the seat of war and calamity.

The environs of Ripon are pleasant; the air is mild and salubrious; and the surrounding country is rich, fertile, well wooded, in a high state of cultivation, and interspersed with villages and seats of the nobility and gentry. Among these, Studley Royal, and Newby-hall, must be considered as the great ornaments of the neighbourhood.

Studley Royal, the seat of Miss Lawrence, is a commodious and elegant house; the apartments are excellently finished, and adorned with a good selection of pictures by the most distinguished masters. The prospects from the house are irregular and pleasing, and the park is enlivened by herds of deer. Beyond the extensive woods and plantations, Ripon minster and part of the town appear in view. The pleasure-grounds, at least three quarters of a mile from the house, lie in a valley, through which a small brook runs from Fountain’s Abbey, and the hills on each side are covered with wood. These ruins of a far-famed monastery are more perfect, and contain many more marks of the original structure, than those of many structures in England. The west end of the church is tolerably entire, and is composed of widely pointed arches and massy Norman columns. The ruins of the abbey and the church spread over a large tract of ground. The chapter-house, the refectory, the dormitory, and about a hundred yards of the cloisters are also tolerably entire; The celebrated monastery of Fountain’s Abbey was founded in the year 1132, for monks of the Cistertian Order, who had then been lately introduced into England, and the primitive monks of this place seemed to have been inspired with all the enthusiasm of St. Bernard, the chief of their order, as at one time they were reduced to such straits by a general scarcity, as to be obliged to feed on the leaves of trees and herbs gathered in the fields, and boiled with a little salt.

Having sustained these difficulties rather than quit the place, the fame of their sanctity and abstinence spread far and wide, and many rich sinners, who wanted passports to heaven through the prayers of these holy men, contributed most profusely: for instance, Hugh, dean of York, being sick, ordered himself and all that he had to be carried to the monastery of Fountains, and being very rich, his wealth brought great relief to the house.

At length, after Edward the Third had secured the northern parts of the kingdom from the depredations of the Scots, the monks of Fountain’s Abbey were in such repute for their supposed sanctity, that many of the northern barons purchased with immense donations, a sepulture within its walls. Among these was the ancient and noble family of Percy. The abbey, with all its offices and appendages, occupied ten, or, according to some writers, twelve, acres of ground. The whole length of the church, from east to west, is 351 feet, and that of the transept 186. The great tower at the north end is very perfect, and finely proportioned, and by its remarkable situation, gives an uncommon degree of effect to every view of the ruins.

Descending the hill from the seat where these first strike the view, the tourist is conducted along the margin of a rivulet, the abbey still appearing with additional grandeur on a nearer approach.

On crossing the mouldering arches of a bridge, he finds himself at the entrance of these beautiful ruins. —Built in the most elegant style of Gothic architecture, the tower and all the walls are yet standing, the roof alone being gone to decay.

The following are the more exact dimensions of these venerable remains: the great tower is one hundred and sixty-six feet six inches high, and 24 feet square. It is placed at the north end of the transept, and is probably from the appearance of the windows, and angular ornamental buttresses, of which there are none attached to the church, of a somewhat later area than the rest of the building, or of the time of Edward III. when York minster was erected. It is entitled to particular notice as being very perfect and lofty, and of noble proportions; and giving, by its peculiar situation, an uncommon degree of picturesque dignity to every view of the ruin in which it is included.

Immediately behind the altar is the sanctum sanctorum, 132 feet Jong, and 30 broad, where only the principal or heads of the order were admitted. Adjoining is the altar.

Within a few yards of the tessellated pavement of the altar lies a stone coffin, in which, it is said, Lord Henry de Percy was buried, in the year 1315.

In a chapel to the left is a broken stone figure, said to be the Earl of Mowbray in full armour, with the arms of Mowbray on his shield.

At the top of the north corner window of the transept is the figure of an angel holding a scroll, with the date 1283.

The nave or body of the church presents a majestic specimen of the early Gothic style of architecture of the time of Henry III. being completed by abbot John de Cancia, who died in the year 1245; whilst the eastern part of it exhibits instances of great lightness and elegance in the choir and columns of the sanctum, and especially in the magnificent arch of the great east window. If this superb and lofty arch has not been added since the date on the west window (1292) it is, perhaps the first example of one of the magnitude in the kingdom, and the whole church may be esteemed one of the purest models now extant, of the simple and majestic style of building which prevailed in the reign of Edward I.

The cloister garden is 120 feet square, and now planted with shrubs and evergreens.

The chapter-house is 84 feet by 42; the rubbish within it was cleared away about the year 1791, when several tombstones of the abbots interred here were discovered; the floor has been a tessellated pavement of various designs, fragments of which still remain. The tombstones are much broken, and the inscriptions are so defaced, that two only remain legible, viz."Hie requiescit dominus Joannes X.

Abbas de Fontibus qui obiit VIII. Die.

Decembris." "Hie requiescit dominus Johanus XII. Abbas de Fontibus." The scriptorium was over the chapter-house, and of the same dimensions; it appears to have been supported by ten pillars of grey marble, the basements of which are now remaining.

The kitchen, which is divided, is very small, when compared with the other apartments, and is remarkable for two curiously arched fire places.

The refectory is 108 feet by 45; with a gallery on one side, probably for disputations.

The cloisters are 300 feet long and 42 feet wide; the roof is arched, and supported by 21 stone pillars. Near to one end is a large stone bason, two yards in diameter.

The cloister garden is 120 feet square, and is planted with shrubs and evergreens.

Over the cloisters is the dormitory of the same dimensions; under the steps leading to which is a porter’s lodge.

A few yards distant are the ruins of the apartments occupied by the abbots.

Over the principal west window, on the outside, is a thrush standing upon a tun, carved with stone, supposed to denote the name of the founder, with a scroll bearing date 1292; the same hieroglyphic is placed over the window at the extremity of the south side. On each side of the tower are inscriptions, in large Saxo-monastic characters.

Fountain’s Hall stands about two hundred yards west from the abbey, and was built out of its ruins, by Sir Stephen Proctor, one of the squires to James I. —There is nothing deserving of particular notice at this house, except some curious painted glass, in the windows of the chapel, exhibiting the arms of different families, and a curiously ornamented chimney-piece, representing the Judgement of Solomon.

Skelldale extends several miles above Fountain’s Abbey, and still appears in all its romantic beauties. About a mile higher up, is the village of Aldfield, which deserves to be better known for its medicinal waters, which rise on the southern side of the vale. A fine trout stream runs between them, and a charming spring of fresh water issues within a few yards. This spa is visited in summer by great numbers of country people, who scarcely ever fail finding relief in all cases in which the use of sulphurous waters are recommended.

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RIPON is a clean, well-built city, municipal and parliamentary borough, liberty, polling place for the Eastern division, of the Riding, market town and parish, railway station, the head of a poor law union, seat of a bishopric and head of a rural deanery, in the archdeaconry of Richmond, 218 miles from London, 23 north-west from York, 11 north from Harrogate, 9 south-west from Thirsk and 29 ½ north-west from Leeds, and stands in a sheltered situation, declining from the north-west towards the confluence of the Laver and the Skell with the river Ure, which separates the city from the North Riding, and is crossed by a bridge of nine arches. The geological stratification in its immediate vicinity is of the tertiary character, the city standing on the boundary between the new red sandstone of the Yorkshire plain, which shows itself prominently in a quarry beyond the railway station, and its great western terrace of magnesian limestone, which appears on the opposite side of the valley at Studley, Whitcliff, Morkershaw, and especially at Quarry Moor, where extensive limekilns have long been established. The soil, occasionally affording useful beds of clay, is generally of a gravelly nature, though there is much fertile land around the city. The plan and appearance of Ripon delineated upwards of a hundred years ago in the works of Gent and Buck, exhibit much the same features as remained until the beginning of the present century, since which time many improvements have been effected in paving, graining and lighting the streets, enclosing the adjacent common lands, pulling down many old and inconvenient houses and erecting new ones, especially in the immediate environs. The era of reconstruction preceding the present appears to have occurred during the seventeenth century; but the outline of the picturesque gable that was so remarkable a feature in our old street architecture, is still retained in many of the modern erections: most of these fronts formed of timber frames, covered with lath and plaster, each story projecting over that below, having been gradually superseded by a more convenient arrangement and substantial material. Most of the streets are narrow. The chief market-place measures 115 yards by 81, and is adorned with a handsome cross, 90 feet high, erected in 1781 by William Aislabie esq. of Studley, who represented Ripon in Parliament sixty years.

The limits of the municipal and parliamentary borough are co-extensive, and comprise the townships of Ripon and Aismunderby with part of Bondgate.

Ripon formerly sent two members to Parliament, but, by the “Representation of the People Act, 1867,” one only is now returned.

Circumscribing the city is a district comprising 33,330 acres and 24 townships, in which, from the time of the English King Athelstane, the Archbishop of York, in right of his manor, has exercised an exclusive franchise or jurisdiction, immemorially known by the name of “The Liberty of Ripon,” and occasionally by that of “Riponshire.” Its outline, which has diverted the boundary of the West Riding from its natural and general direction with the river Ure, nearly agrees, as might have been supposed, with that of the parish; but several townships, which are included geographically in the parochial, are without the civil district, in consequence of their ancient feudal dependence on the barony and castle of Kirkby Malzeard; it comprehends also the adjacent parish of Nidd, Within this district, until curtailed by successive restrictions of the Legislature, the Archbishop enjoyed those extraordinary privileges termed legally “Jura Regalia,” the nature of which need not here be detailed, except to say that he had unlimited judicial authority both over the property and the lives of the residents; the one branch remaining of this jurisdiction is the Court of Pleas, the other is represented in an abridged form by the Court of Quarter sessions. The “Liberty” also maintains its exempt character in its offices of high steward, justices of the peace, coroner, clerk of the peace, high constable and gaoler.

The” government of the borough” consists of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors; the mayor and his predecessor being justices of the peace for the borough, and the mayor being also in the commission for the liberty of Ripon during his year of office. The sounding of the mayor’s horn is one of the most ancient customs that linger in the kingdom; it formerly announced the setting of the watch, whence the chief officer of the town derived his Saxon style of “Wakeman,” but it has now lapsed into the formality of three blasts given at nine o'clock every evening at the mayor’s door by his official horn-blower, and one afterwards at the Market-cross while the seventh bell of the cathedral is ringing.

By virtue of an Act of Parliament, 6 and 7 Wm, IV, c. 77, an episcopal see was erected at Ripon, and the collegiate church of Rippn and the chapter there of were made the cathedral church and chapter of the new see and, according to ancient precedent, the town of Ripon became dignified with the appellation of city.

The cathedral church of SS. Peter and Wilfrid is a very ancient structure, and contains an example of every style of Christian architecture that has been used in England from its introduction in Saxon times to its decline in the sixteenth century; the western facade presents one of the most majestic specimens of the Early English style in this kingdom; the elevation exhibits a gabled compartment, 103 feet high and 43 feet wide, flanked by two towers of little superior altitude; in the basement story are three deeply-recessed doorways, surmounted by two tiers of lancet lights occupying its whole width and divided by clustered and banded shafts enriched with the toothed ornaments and terminated by foliated capitals; each of these ten windows is divided into two trefoil-headed lights with a surmounting quatrefoil; above the upper tier-the centre window being the tallest and the rest receding in proportion, according to the spirit of the old Lombard fronts-there are three lancet lights conjoined in the swiftly-declining pediment, which is finished by a bald corbel table and crowned by a modern cross; several of the windows are filled with stained glass as memorials; the towers are on the same plane as the centre compartment, though divided from it by un-staged buttresses that give a slight projection to each angle of the towers and relieve the flatness that pervades the vast expanse of the western elevation; they are divided above the basement story, which shows in front a trifoliated arcade in three stages, in each of which the face originally disengaged from the old nave has an arcade of three members, the centre compartment of each being pierced with a lancet light and the archivolt supported by tall banded shafts, some single and some clustered a corbel table surmounts the last stage, prepared originally for the lofty octagonal spires of timber and lead, removed in 1664, which long and ably completed the effect of an original and striking design; the curtailed extremities are now finished with battlements and pinnacles: the Southern tower contains a peal of 8 bells, cast by Lester and Pack in 1762 and weighing together 90 cwt. 0qrs. 31lbs. the clock was put up by Thwaites, of London, in 1809, in place of one provided by Dean Dering, in 1723: in the south transept is a classical composition in white marble in memory of Sir John Mallorie, who defended Skipton Castle for Charles I. and died 1655, and of his son William, ob, 1666, in 1861 a vigorous and successful attempt was made to compensate for the deficiencies of bygone years; the movement was originated by the late Dean Goode, who availed himself of the invaluable services of the late Sir George Gilbert Scott. The following were the most important renovations:-The western towers, cracked from top to bottom, were thoroughly repaired, the foundations renewed and the walls and windows restored to their original condition: the portals, reduced to a state of great decay, were properly and safely renovated: the external roof of the choir raised to its original elevation, and an entirely new roof covered with lead, and constructed of solid oak, in place of the plaster roof which previously existed, many parts of which were found to be incapable of repair: the roofs of the north and south aisles of the choir were also thoroughly repaired, and their interior surface cleared of the coats of whitewash which concealed the white stone vaulting: the windows on the south side, which had been bricked up, were re-opened and proper mullions inserted: extensive repairs were also made in the outer walls of the cathedral, extending from the south transept along the south side towards the east end, the whole of the east end and the north side as far as the north transept; the soil which had accumulated to a considerable height against the walls was removed, and provision made for securing the walls from damp: the stonework wherever decayed was made good, retaining the characteristics of the old work, so that everything essential to the external renovation of this part of the cathedral has now been accomplished: in the interior the principal and most obvious changes were made in the choir; the galleries and closets below, with all the pews, disappeared: the stallwork was restored and new work added: at the east end a plain stone arcading has been carried along the wall, and the sedilia placed nearer the communion table; this originally stood against a screen one bay to the westward, but the arrangement having been long ago given up, it was deemed inadvisable to return to it; under the central tower, and reached by a narrow and inconvenient passage 45 feet distant from the nave is a cylindrically vaulted cell, 7 feet 9 inches wide, 11 feet 3 inches long and 9 feet 4 inches high, supposed by some to have been a Roman sepulchral vault; by the comparison, however, of its ground plan with that of a crypt at Hexham, it will become evident that both these crypts were built on the very same peculiar plan and in the same mode of construction: the space at the west end of the chapel is covered by a semi-vault rising towards the east, which has originally carried the stairs of the superincumbent altar: there are several niches or plain recesses with semicircular heads; one on the western wall has the addition of a deep basin in the base and others a funnel-like aperture behind the arch, as if to carry off the smoke of a lamp: “the needle,” as it is popularly called, has been formed by perforating the niche 13 inches wide and 18 inches high, on the north side, through the thickness of the wall to the parallel passage behind, said to ascend to the porch in the choir-screen, behind the sub-dean’s stall. The purposes to which this very singular place was originally applied are not certainly ascertained-though there seems no doubt that it was intended to serve as a place of retirement, humiliation, penance and prayer; the convenient peculiarity of ingress and egress, moreover, rendered this vault a fit sepulchre, whence the image of Christ-removed on Good Friday from the nave, a type of the Church militant on earth-would be brought up into the choir, the emblem of the Church triumphant in heaven, on the anniversary morn of the Resurrection. Besides a remarkable assimilation of the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular, all of which meet in the third bay from the east end on the south side, the choir presents also another remarkable spectacle in the arrangement of the windows in two tiers; this formed no part of the original design, but was gained by glazing the traceried apertures of the triforium, the roof of which was then settled to the vaulting of the aisles; the wood work of the stalls is well worthy of attention: fhe shield on the finial of the Bishop’s throne bears three estoiles, the insignia of St. Wilfrid, supported by angels and surmounted with a mitre: the data below A.D. 1494-the latest on the wood work of the stalls-indicating the time of their completion; the poppy head above, fashioned as an elephant bearing a military tower, is one of the most singular of its class of ornament: the sub-sedilia display a number of curious and satirical conceits, in the majority of which lies some deep meaning: the original piscina of the high altar was displaced by the erection of the late altar-screen; but that of a chantry, at the adjoining end of the south aisle, remains in the shape of a basin resting on a cylindrical shaft; in this aisle, too, a remarkable lavatory near the vestry door must be noticed: three sedilia, with a curtailed piscina, occupy the whole of the first intercommunication from the east and have a richly crocketed ogee head, resting on square pillars, the surfaces of which are adorned with the Tudor rose. The restoration cost £40,000, of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners contributed £15,000, the remainder was raised in the diocese: the cathedral was re-opened in October, 1876. The cathedral register dates from 1587, and is in good condition. The library, comprising between 5,000 and 6,000 volumes, including several valuable Caxtons, one of which is estimated to be worth £1,000, is contained in an apartment above the ancient Norman church, and formerly called the “Lady loft.” on the erection of this see in 1836, the Rev. Charles Thomas Longley, D.D. headmaster of Harrow school, was appointed the first Bishop of Ripon, and was consecrated in York Minster, November 6, 1836: on his translation to Durham in 1857, the Rev. Robert Bickersteth D.D. formerly cation and treasurer of Salisbury cathedral and rector of St. Giles’, Middlesex, was elected Bishop.

The Bishop’s Palace, a spacious stone building in the Tudor style, designed by Mr. Railton, stands on a slight eminence, about a mile north-west of Ripon; it commands agreeable prospects along the valleys of the Ure and the Laver: the foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Ripon, 1st October, 1838: the grounds are tastefully laid out, surrounded by garden and pleasure grounds, in a park of 70 acres.

Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1853; the church, at the end of Blosaomgate, was built and endowed by the late Rev. Edward Kilvington M.A., at an expense of £13,000, bequeathed for Christian purposes by his relative, Thomas Kilvington esq. M.B. a noted medical practitioner in this city, and is a cruciform stone structure with a tower surmounted by a spire; the church, which will seat 1,000 persons, has a fine -toned organ, and was consecrated by the Archbishop of York, October 31, 1827. The register dates from the year 1827. The living is a perpetual curacy, value £300, in the gift of the trustees of the late Ref. Charles Simeon, with a good residence; the incumbent is the Rev. Joseph Hulme Goodier M.A. of Brasenose College, Oxford.

The Catholics, have a church here. The Congregationalists, Wesleyans, Methodist New Connexion and Primitive Methodists have each chapels.

Ripon seems to have been a noted place for horse fairs, and the most spacious street in it is still called the Horse fair, though it is now used rather for the periodical exhibition than for the sale of horses; it also promoted, at an early period, the breeding of horses, by the establishment of races, a course being formed on the High Common in 1713 kt the expense of the Corporation; during the time of the Aislabies they were well encouraged, but subsequently fell off considerably in character, and eventually were abandoned on the enclosure of the common in 1826. With a view chiefly to afford amusement at the annual feast of St. Wilfrid, in August, they were re-established on a new course on the opposite Bide of the river, in 1837, and have since been continued.

The fairs are held on the last Thursday in January; the 13th and 14th of May; the first Thursday and Friday in June; first Thursday in October, for sheep: on the first Thursday in November, and on the 23rd of November, which is a general hiring day for servants. Wool fairs: first Thursday in June, and every other Thursday during the season.

The principal market is held on Thursday for corn and all kinds of agricultural produce, as well as for butter, eggs and fowls, which are particularly sought for by agents from the manufacturing districts. There is a supplementary market on Saturday evening, for the sale of garden produce and butcher’s meat, and a wool market is held in the Old Market place occasionally during the season.

In 1736 the disadvantages of the inland position of Ripon caused an attempt to render a part of the river Ure navigable, and to form a canal from thence to the town, at a time when such projects were but little regarded. After much discouragement this undertaking succeeded, by the aid of the celebrated Smeaton, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament obtained in 1767. The property in this undertaking was transferred to the Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company, July 25, 1815. The basin of the Ripon Canal is in Bondgate Green. There are good wharves for the landing and shipment of goods, which may be forwarded to any part of the kingdom. Ripon is on the Leeds section of the North Eastern Railway, which passes the town on a lofty embankment; the station is about half a mile distant from the city, in the township of Sharow.

There is no staple manufacture carried on in the city, unless the establishments of a few individuals may be allowed to represent the trade of saddletree making, carried on here as early as the time of Queen Elizabeth. After the manufacture of woollen cloth declined, in the sixteenth century, that of spurs was carried on with such skill and success that the phrase, “As true steel as Ripon rowels,” applied to express the character of a man of honest principles, became proverbial throughout the kingdom. Ben Jonson, in his “Staple of News,” has—

“Why, there’s an angel, if my spurs

Be not right Rippon!”

and Davenant, in his “Wits,”

“Whip me with wire, beaded with rowels of

Sharp Rippon spurs.”

This trade, together with that of button making, and some other kinds of hardware, prospered throughout the seven-tenth and part of the eighteenth century; but the advantages obtained in the great seats of general hardware manufacture by the division of labour and a more liberal application of capital, at length caused its decline. Alderman John Terry, who occupied the site of the second house westward from the Town Hall, and died within recollection, was the last spurrier.

The Town Hall, on the south side of the Market place, was built from a design by Wyatt, in 1801, at the expense of Mrs. Allanson, of Studley: in the assembly-room, which occupies the upper front story, is a full-length portrait of Mrs. Allanson; and in a lower room, now used as a newsroom, a characteristic bust, in marble, of Mrs. Lawrence, the niece of Mrs. Allanson, by the eminent sculptor Angus Fletcher.

The Public Rooms are in Low Skellgate, and were built in 1834.

The Mechanics’ Institution, in Water Skellgate, was established in 1831, and a new building erected in 1849.

The Water Works, at the north end of the city, were constructed by the corporation, at a cost of £10,000.

Here are four banks and a savings bank. The Court House is in Hall yard, Kirkgate; and the Temperance Hall on Duck Hill bank.

The Dispensary and House of Recovery was Commenced as early as 1790, being held in a dwelling house until a bequest of £1,000, by the late Mrs. Lawrence, led to the erection, in 1850, of a commodious building in Ferraby lane.

A public bathing house was erected in Skell Bank in 1812, supplied from St. Wilfrid’s Well, which rises in a field a little to the west of it, and not far from the close where the Gospel-tree stood; its stream, however, as welt as that of a spring on Borrage Green, being both of exceedingly pure quality and much frequented, had been protected and collected in stone basins for public use by Dr. Richardson, of Ripon, in 1758 and 1762. There is also another valuable spring, called St. Helen’s Well, about a mile from the city, by the side of the Leeds road; and a sulphuretted spa, which, though but slightly impregnated, is not useless, at the north end of Stonebridgegate.

The Gas Works, in Stammergate, were established in 1830. and purchased by the corporation in 1865, at a cost of £9,000, since when they have been very considerably enlarged.

The Hospital of St. John the Baptist owes its origin to Thomas, second Archbishop of York, A.D. 1109, and has an income of £270 yearly, derived from land. The old chapel was in no way remarkable, and was replaced by a new building in 1869 at a cost of £1,300: the new chapel is rectangular, with apsidal chancel, and is carried out in the Late Pointed style. Almshouses in connection with this Charity are in course of erection.

The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, founded by an Archbishop of York, who was forgotten so early as 1341, supplies six poor women with apartments and a pension. The chapel remains as it was left at the Reformation. The original structure of the twelfth century, containing a rudely ornamented Norman doorway, was repaired during the Perpendicular era, when the screen and its appurtenant stalls were constructed. A low side window of this date also remains. Besides these relics, there is a high altar of stone still remaining in its proper position, and the pavement before it is well worthy of consideration. By a munificent donation from the Rev. G. Mason, of Copt Hewick Hall, a new chapel was erected on the opposite side of the road, in the Decorated style, in 1870.

The Hospital of St. Anne, in High St. Agnesgate, is the foundation and structure of an uncertain benefactor, about the time of Edward IV. and holds eight poor women, each having a dwelling and a small pension: its little chapel, now in ruins, retains the piscina and altar-stone on which tradition asserts that the ransom of a Scottish king was paid; the burial place is now used as a garden.

Jepson’s Hospital, in Water Skellgate, was founded by Zacharias Jepson, of York, apothecary, and native of Ripon, who bequeathed £3,000 to feoffees to purchase lands for the maintenance and education of twenty orphan boys or poor tradesmen’s sons of the town of Ripon, who were to be admitted at the age of seven years; this institution has subsequently received benefactions, but the original funds having been injudiciously invested, caused the number of boys to be reduced to ten; the income is now £250 yearly. The Ripon poor’s land charity consists of invested funds, Which produce £280 yearly for distribution.

The area of the township is 1,561 acres; and the population in 1871 was 6,143; area of the entire parish, 58,235 acres; population, 15,832. The population of the municipal and parliamentary borough, the limits of which are co-extensive, in 1871 was 6,806.

[The above account of Ripon is founded on extracts by the special permission of the author, the late J, R. Walbran esq. F.S.A, (formerly Mayor of Ripon), from a copyright hook entitled “A Guide to Ripon and Harrogate,” published by A. Johnson & Co.

The following is a list of the townships within the petty sessional division of Kirkby Malzeard: -Aldfield, Azerley Hamlet of Galphay, Grewelthorpe, Kirkby Malzeard, Laverton, Lindrick with Studley Royal & Fountains, Hamlet of Mickley, Skelding, Studley Roger & Winksley.

Ripon Union

Ripon Union comprises the following places-Aismunderby-cum-Bondgate, Aldfield, Azenby (N. R. York), Azerley, Baldersby (N. R. York), Bishop Monkton, Bishopton, Bridge Hewick, Clotherholme, Copt Hewick, Cundall with Leckby (N. R. York), Dishforth (N. R. York), Eavestone, Givendale Grantley, Grewelthorpe, Hutton Conyers (N. R. York), Ingerthorpe, Kirkby Malzeard, Laverton; Lindrick, Markenfield Hall, Markington with Wallerthwaite, Marton-le-Moor ( N. R. York), Melmerby (N. R. York), Middleton Quernhow (N. R. York), Newby with Mulwith. Norton Conyers (N. R. York), Nunwick-cum -Howgrave, Rainton with Newby (N. R. York), Ripon, Sawley, Sharow, Skelden, Stainley North with Sleningford, Studley Roger, Studley Royal-cum-Lindrick & Fountain, Sutton Grange, Sutton Howgrave (N. R. York), Tanfield East (N. R. York), Tanfield West (N. R. York), Wath (N. R. York), Whitcliffe with Thorpe & Winksley; gross estimated rental £145,057: rateable value, £135,534.

Places of Worship (with times of service): —

Cathedral Church of Ripon, Kirkgate, Sundays 10.15 a.m. & 6.30 p.m; daily 10.15 a.m. & 4.15 p.m.

Holy Trinity Church, Trinity lane; Rev. Joseph Hulme Goodier M.S. incumbent; 10.30 a.m. 6.30 p.m.; Wed.7 p.m.

St. Mary Magdalens Chapel of Ease, Stammergate; Sunday 10.30 a.m.

St. John’s Chapel of Ease, Bondgate; 6.30 p.m.; Wednesday 7.30 p.m.

Catholic Chapel, Coltsgate hill, Rev. Canon Philip Vavasour, priest; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; week days 8 a.m. & 7.30 p.m.

Congregational Chapel, North road, Rev. A. S. Trotman, minister; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Thursday 7.30 p.m.

Methodist New Connexion Chapel, Blossomgate; ministers various; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wednesday 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Priest las ministers various; 2 p.m., & 6.30 p.m.; Thursday 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Chapel, Coltsgate hill, ministers various; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tuesday 7.30 p.m.

Schools

The Free Grammar school, in Bishopton Close, was first founded in 1546, by King Edward VI., but incorporated by Philip & Mary, 27th June, 1555, & endowed chiefly from the revenues of certain chantries in this church & parish: the yearly income is now £730. Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Porteus & Archdeacon Thomas Balguy, are among the eminent men who have been instructed here. This is a first grade school, with efficient English department. The number of scholars is 80. The De Grey Exhibition of £50 a year for three, or sometimes four years, to Oxford or Cambridge, is given every year, & many compete also for the Hastings Exhibitions at Queen’s College, Oxford. Rev. Arthur Brooke Haslam M.A. headmaster; W. W, Taylor M.A. second master; John Wood, law clerk & receiver.

Cathedral Choir School High St. Agnesgate, headmaster, Rev. Samuel Reed.

Ripon Diocesan Training, for the Education of Mistresses for National Schools, Rev. Canon Badcock M.A. principal.

National (boys, girls & infants), Trinity lane, Miss Maria Wood, mistress; Harriet Anne Marston, infants’ mistress.

National (boys), Priest lane, Henry Walter, master.

National (girls), St. Agnesgate, Miss Hannah Bowling, mistress; Miss Mary Elizabeth Marston, infants' mistress.

Roman Catholic, Coltsgate hill, Miss Elizabeth Butler, mistress.

Wesleyan, Coltsgate hill, Benj. Musgrave Smith. master.