| Ripon Cathedral | |
The east end of the cathedral
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Ripon Cathedral
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| Location | Ripon, North Yorkshire |
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| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | www.riponcathedral.org.uk |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Anglo-Saxon, Gothic (Early English) |
| Years built | 1160-1547 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Ripon and Leeds (since 1836) |
| Province | York |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop(s) | The Rt Revd John Packer |
| Dean | The Very Revd Keith Jukes |
| Canon(s) | The Revd Canon Paul Greenwell Precentor The Ven Janet Henderson |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Andrew Bryden |
| Organist(s) | Edmund Aldhouse |
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.
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A church on the site is thought to date from 672, when it is believed to have been the second stone building erected in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria . The crypt dates from this period.
People have been coming to worship and pray at Ripon for more than 1,350 years. The Cathedral building itself is part of this continuing act of worship, begun in the 7th century when Saint Wilfrid built one of England’s first stone churches on this site, and still renewed every day. Within the nave and choir, you can see the evidence of 800 years in which master craftsmen have expressed their faith in wood and stone.
Today’s church is the fourth to have stood on this site. Saint Wilfrid brought stonemasons, plasterers and glaziers from France and Italy to build his great basilica in AD 672. A contemporary account by Eddius Stephanus tells us:
"In Ripon, Saint Wilfrid built and completed from the foundations to the roof a church of dressed stone, supported by various columns and side-aisles to a great height and many windows, arched vaults and a winding cloister."
Saint Wilfrid was buried in this church near the high altar.
Devastated by the English king in AD 948 as a warning to the Archbishop of York, only the crypt of Wilfrid’s church survived but today this tiny 7th century chapel rests complete beneath the later grandeur of Archbishop Roger de Pont l’Evêque’s 12th century minster.
A second minster soon arose at Ripon, but it too perished – this time in 1069 at the hands of William the Conqueror. Thomas of Bayeux, first Norman Archbishop of York, then instigated the construction of a third church, traces of which were incorporated into the later chapter house of Roger’s minster.
The Early English west front was added in 1220, its twin towers originally crowned with wooden spires and lead. Major rebuilding had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses but resumed after the accession of Henry VII and the restoration of peace in 1485. The nave was widened and the central tower partially rebuilt. The church's thirty five misericords were carved between 1489 and 1494. It is worth noting that the same (Ripon) school of carvers also carved the misericords at Beverley Minster and Manchester Cathedral.
But in 1547, before this work was finished, Edward VI dissolved Ripon’s college of canons. All revenues were appropriated by the Crown and the tower never received its last Perpendicular arches. It was not until 1604 that James I issued his Charter of Restoration.
The minster finally became a cathedral (the church where the Bishop has his cathedra or throne) in 1836, the focal point of the newly created Anglican Diocese of Ripon — the first to be established since the Reformation.
Under the Dioceses Commission's Draft Reorganisation Scheme, the Diocese and See of Ripon and Leeds would be entirely dissolved to facilitate the creation of a new Anglican Diocese of Leeds. Ripon Cathedral would become one seat for the new diocesan bishop of Leeds (his or her other equal seats being Bradford Cathedral, Wakefield Cathedral and a possible Leeds Pro-Cathedral), although the area Bishop of Ripon would presumably continue to have a "seat of honour" there. The Canons from the Colleges of the three cathedrals would merge into a new diocesan College, the Deans of each would retain day-to-day authority in their own cathedral, while one would become presiding dean of the College (initially the senior one by tenure – i.e. David Ison, Dean of Bradford – but later the one appointed by the diocesan bishop).[1]
The musical tradition in the cathedral is very strong. The current director and assistant director of music are Andrew Bryden and Edmund Aldhouse respectively.
The cathedral has a fine organ by Harrison and Harrison dating from 1926. The organ is on the screen and has casework by Gilbert Scott. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
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The post of assistant organist was informal until 1928 when it made official.
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See also the List of Organ Scholars at Ripon Cathedral.
A ring of 12 bells with an additional 'flat sixth' bell is hung in the south west tower. A diatonic ring of ten bells was cast in 1932, and three additional bells were installed in 2008 with two new trebles being added to give a diatonic ring of twelve, and an additional 'flat sixth' bell to give a light ring of eight.[6]
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