Ripon Cathedral - Ripon, North Yorkshire (Pvt)
The first stone church built on the site of Ripon Cathedral was that of Saint Wilfred, then Abbot, who dedicated it to Saint Peter in 672. Amazingly, a small but important part of this building remains, underneath the crossing. This stone crypt would probably have contained a Relic, brought back from Rome by Wilfred on his pilgrimage. In turn, people would have journeyed to the Minster at Ripon to pray and to see the Relic. Wilfred's building collapsed however in 950, its successor being destroyed by William the Conqueror's invading Norman army in 1069. Under the new Norman rule, a second Minster was founded in 1080 by the new Archbishop of York, Thomas of Bayeaux. The vaulted undercroft is the best preserved part of Thomas' church, dedicated to St. Wilfred and St. Peter.
Ripon Cathedral
In 1181, Archbishop Roger de Pont l'Eveque (a supporter of Henry II against Thomas a Becket) gave £1000 to have the building remodelled in the Norman Transitional style but there are few remaining rounded Norman arches. The fine south doorway bears witness to the twelfth century reconstruction. After the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scots raided large areas of the north of England and Ripon suffered plunder of some of its riches.
Most of the interior at Ripon was remodelled again after another disastrous collapse of the stonework in 1450. Reconstruction began in earnest in 1485 after stability had been restored following the Wars of the Roses and the Nave was widened and the Tower partly rebuilt. The fashionable Perpendicular style replaced the rounded arches with pointed arches and large windows with Gothic tracery. As was not unusual, the money and will ran out before the reconstruction was complete, which accounts for the juxtaposition of the two styles around the church and the Reformation effectively put an end to any major work. Ripon suffered yet another collapse in 1660, when the central spire fell through the roof. It was never replaced and its wooden counterparts on the two west towers were removed some years later.
Norman & Gothic Arches
Saxon Crypt
In 1836, Ripon became the first new diocese to be created since the Reformation and throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Ripon has continued to respond to the changing needs of its congregation. There are many special features at Ripon, from the Saxon Crypt to the Tudor stone Baptismal font, the bronze Art Nouveau pulpit to the 1960's Chapel of the Holy Spirit. The medieval carvings in stone and wood around the Choir are beautiful and the simplicity and elegance of the thirteenth century West Front impresses greatly. Like all medieval Britain's Cathedrals and churches, Ripon suffered under the iconoclasts of the Reformation and Cromwell's army, but there is still a wealth of religious and artistic heritage here that links us with the worshipers and visitors of a millennium and a half.