("Doomsday Book.")
In the West Riding of the county of York, twenty-two miles north-west of
the city of York and eleven miles north of Harrogate, the ancient city
of Ripon is situated at the juncture of the Ure, Laver, and Skell. The
narrow and irregular streets and well-built houses, some of which still
retain the quaint, picturesque gables so reminiscent of earlier times,
envelop the city with that delightful, indefinable air of mediaevalism--a
something which, tempered with old associations and traditions, no
modern city with all its improvements can supply. To saunter through the
ancient, ill-lighted streets of an old town at night, when life is
dormant and commercialism quiescent, is the time to view unexpected
beauties of architecture unfold themselves, and to become oneself imbued
with a spirit of romanticism and a feeling of rest. If a figure in
mediaeval costume and rapier were to come round a corner suddenly, or
emerge from some dark nook, it would scarcely startle the senses, so
appropriate would it seem with the surroundings, enshrouded in
mysterious shadows.
A new city can be admired, but can never be revered till it has survived
the many storms of generations, and has emerged with a halo of
traditions respected and treasured.
Ripon, in common with other cathedral cities, possesses this charm, and
after many vicissitudes presents us with a magnificent cathedral. To
revert to the commencement of the city's history, it is supposed to have
derived its name from the Latin "Ripa," owing to its situation upon the
bank of the river Ure. The earliest authentic record gives it under the
name of Inhrypun, in connection with the establishment of a monastery in
660 by Eata, who was then Abbot of Melrose. It was subsequently given by
Alfred, King of Northumbria, to Wilfrid, who had been raised to the
archbishopric of York. He was afterwards canonised as a saint. Under
Wilfrid's administration and influence the town very much increased its
wealth and importance. Through the division of the bishopric in the year
678 Ripon became a see.
A great calamity overtook the city in the ninth century. The Danes burnt
and plundered it, causing such devastation that it was almost wiped
out. From its ruins, however, it recovered so quickly as to be
incorporated as a royal borough by Alfred the Great. This happened by
the year 886. In the suppression of the insurrections of the
Northumbrian Danes it suffered severely through the terrible laying
waste of the land which Edred found necessary to subdue them.
Little time was left for the city to regain its former prosperity, when
the surrounding country was again laid waste, in 1069, by William the
Conqueror after defeating the Northumbrian rebels. This monarch's
vengeance so completely demolished the town that it still remained in
ruins and the land uncultivated at the time of the Norman survey. The
monastery, destroyed by Edred, was rebuilt by Oswald and his successors,
who were archbishops of York. It was endowed and made collegiate by
Archbishop Aldred somewhere about the time of the Conquest. The city was
now enjoying comparative peace, and was regaining lost prestige when it
again became a mere wreck. Under Robert Bruce, in the reign of Edward
II., the Scots compelled the inhabitants to surrender everything of
value they had, and burnt the town. This period of devastation lasted
from 1319 till 1323.
[Illustration: RIPON