Ripon Cathedral

Ripon Cathedral stands in the small North Yorkshire town of Ripon. It is the fourth church built on this site since the 7th century. The present building was constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries in the Gothic style. Its west front is one of the finest examples of Early English Gothic architecture in the country. The cathedral also contains the crypt of St Wilfrid’s original 7th-century church beneath its later arches. The cathedral is notable for its early Christian crypt, one of the oldest surviving stone structures in England. The east window, built between 1286 and 1330, is praised by architecture critic Pevsner as a splendid example of Decorated Gothic design. The cathedral’s thirty-four misericords were carved by the same school that worked at Beverley Minster and Manchester Cathedral. Its organ, rebuilt by Harrison and Harrison, features an unusual wooden hand that once helped conduct the choir. A ring of twelve bells, installed in stages, hangs in the south-west tower. Inside, visitors find the marble font made from Teesdale stone, the 14th-century clock with Cambridge chimes, and eighteen portraits of Tudor royalty. The cathedral’s crossing tower, rebuilt after an earthquake in the 15th century, remains unfinished. The west front’s twin towers once had wooden spires, and the nave’s aisles were added in the early 16th century. The surroundings include the town’s market square, where the cathedral has stood as a landmark for over thirteen centuries.