ABOUT RIPON

Ripon, in Yorkshire, is a cathedral city steeped in history and home to magnificent historical buildings and long-observed traditions. You will find a trio of award winning museums and a gothic cathedral that dates back to the 7th century waiting to feed enquiring minds.

With a thriving market place and a magnificent cathedral, this busy little city will earn a place in any visitor’s heart. Reaching out from the market square are small streets and snickets that are home to the eclectic and specialist shops for which Ripon is so loved. Amongst them are cafes and pubs, offering refreshment and home cooked food throughout the day.

This city’s history is entwined with the church, both due to the cathedral in the city centre and its proximity to the nearby Fountains Abbey.

Ripon also boasts an outstanding racecourse, a glorious stately home, a magnificent abbey and popular theme park. There are always great things to do.

The growth of the city through trade and manufacturing led to the building of a canal to link it to the navigable parts of the River Ure. Today this makes Ripon a delightful city to explore, with riverside and canal side walks that reach into the countryside and buildings that span the last thousand years.

HARR Gallery Ripon Ripon Races lead rider
Yorkshire’s Big Little Secret
Ripon has a curious collection of events that always delight visitors, from the nightly setting of the watch by the Hornblower, to the annual Boxing Day pilgrimage – the character of this city is bursting out to be enjoyed. A budding grass roots arts scene sees regular exhibitions throughout the year and musical events are a regular feature at the cathedral.

the city has long been thought of as one of the major inspirations for Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The author spent a great deal of time with family in the city exploring the animal carvings in the cathedral. It is quite likely that the gypsum sinkholes found in the surrounding countryside were the inspiration for the beginning of Alice’s mysterious journey.

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Ripon (/ˈrɪpən/) is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the city is noted for its main feature, Ripon Cathedral, which is architecturally significant, as well as the Ripon Racecourse and other features such as its market.

The city was originally known as Inhrypum. Bede records that Alhfrith, king of the Southern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira, gave land at Ripon to Eata of Hexham to build a monastery and the abbot transferred some of his monks there, including a young Saint Cuthbert who was guest-master at Ripon abbey.[2] Both Bede in his Life of Cuthbert and Eddius Stephanus in his Life of Wilfred [2] state that when Eata was subsequently driven out by Alhfrith, the abbey was given to Saint Wilfrid who replaced the timber church with a stone built church. This was during the time of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, a period during which it enjoyed prominence in religious importance in Great Britain. It was for a period under Viking control, and later suffered under the Normans. After a brief period of building projects under the Plantagenets, the city emerged with a prominent wool and cloth industry. Ripon became well known for its production of spurs during the 16th and 17th centuries, but would later remain largely unaffected by the Industrial Revolution.

Ripon is the third-smallest city in England and the smallest in Yorkshire, by population.[3] According to the 2011 United Kingdom Census it had a population of 16,702,[1] an increase on the 2001 United Kingdom Census figure of 15,922.[4] It is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Thirsk, 16 miles (26 km) south of Northallerton and 12 miles (19 km) north of Harrogate. As well as its racecourse and cathedral, Ripon is a tourist destination because of its proximity to the UNESCO World Heritage Site which consists of the Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey.