The Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Wilfrid, Ripon.
Ripon minster has passed through strange vicissitudes. It was founded c. 660 as a monasterium or minster for Scottish monks attached to the Celtic church. Soon afterwards it was taken away from them and granted to the famous St. Wilfrid. In 678 the church became a cathedral, but only during the lifetime of Bishop Eadhed. Ultimately it passed into the hands of regular canons of the Augustinian Order. It was dissolved with the other collegiate churches by Edward VI. It was made collegiate once more by James I., but with dean and prebendaries instead of Augustinian canons. In 1836, for the second time, it became a cathedral.
I. Both the minsters built by St. Wilfrid—Ripon and Hexham—retain their crypts. He was a Romaniser in architecture as in ritual, and well acquainted with Italy. So his seventh-century church at Ripon was modelled after the early Christian basilicas which he had seen at Rome. Like them, it had a confessionary or crypt, which still exists, beneath the central tower; like them, it was orientated to the west. He seems even to have brought over Italian masons to direct or to execute the work, for the crypt is vaulted, and the vaulting is of excellent construction; the masonry is smooth, and is covered “with a fine and very hard plaster which takes a polish.” At its west end was the altar, at its east end an aperture through which a glimpse of the interior might be obtained from the Saxon nave. Round the walls are little niches in which lights were placed. “St. Wilfrid’s Needle” is merely a niche with the back knocked through. Similar Saxon crypts remain at Hexham and Wing, and a Norman crypt at St. Peter-in-the-East, Oxford. They usually consisted of a small central chamber, with a passage all round it. There were two staircases descending from either side of the nave; pilgrims went down one flight of steps, proceeded along the passage, getting a glimpse of the relics through openings in the wall of the central chamber, and then returned up the other flight of steps into the nave.
IV. Norman.—Early in the twelfth century a Norman cathedral seems to have been built, wholly or in part, by Archbishop Thurstan. Of this there remains only an apsidal building, with crypt beneath, on the south side of the south aisle of the present choir. An eleventh-century chapel formerly existed, with crypt beneath it, in precisely the same situation at Worcester; there is a twelfth-century chapel in the same position in Oxford cathedral. In Oxford this chapel was the Lady chapel. It may be that the Ripon chapel also may have been a Lady chapel. For if the Norman choir was of the same length eastward as at present, it would have been impossible to build a Lady chapel of the type of that, the crypt of which still exists at Winchester, to the east of the choir; the ground falls far too steeply eastward. Moreover, the so-called Lady loft now existing would seem, from its name, to be merely an upper story added to a Lady chapel. This Norman chapel formerly opened into the Norman church; traces of the arches may be seen in the walls. In the buttress is a curious room which may have been a sacristy, a lavatory, a prison, or an anchorite’s cell, like the one in the east end of Ludlow church.
NAVE.
V. Transitional.—From 1154 to 1181 there ruled at York a man of the greatest energy and power—Archbishop Roger. He condemned his two Norman churches at York and Ripon; made no attempt, as at Peterborough and Ely, to improve them; simply pulled them down, and started again de novo. The two new minsters seem to have been somewhat similar: both had square east ends, both had exceptionally broad naves. But Ripon minster was merely the church of Augustinian canons, therefore it was not planned in cathedral fashion. Our ancient collegiate and parish churches seem to have followed some other model than the early Christian basilicas which furnished the plans of the cathedrals. Most of our parish churches originally were without aisles; and even large churches of the regular canons frequently had no aisles to the nave. This was the case in Roger’s new church at Ripon, and at Bolton Priory (also Augustinian). Later on, indeed, the Ripon canons added north and south aisles to their nave, and the Bolton canons a north aisle to their nave—they could not add a south aisle also, as they had a cloister to the south. But originally both churches had aisleless naves. That of Ripon was 40 feet broad—broader than any nave in England, except York, which is of the breadth of 45 feet. The combination of unaisled nave and aisled choir must have produced a very remarkable interior; quite unlike anything now existing in England, but to be paralleled by the Spanish cathedral at Gerona (illustrated in Street’s “Gothic Architecture of Spain”).
Of this Transitional nave nothing is now left except two fragments, one at the east, and one at the west end on either side. All the rest has been replaced by sixteenth-century piers, arches, and clerestory. But if in imagination the two ends of the Transitional nave are joined together—it is well to do so in an actual drawing—the design of the whole of the original nave can be recovered with exactitude. A very remarkable design it was. It consisted of three stories; the lower story was simply a blank wall. The second, the triforium, was merely a passage in the thickness of the wall, ornamented in front by a tall pointed arcade. The clerestory had three tall slender lancet windows in each bay, all of the same height, separated by two detached piers. The strangest feature of the nave was that neither in the ground-story nor in the triforium were there any windows. Everywhere else people were trying to get all the windows possible into their churches; here alone a “dim, religious light” was preferred. And filtering in, as it did, through small lancet windows at a great height, as in Pugin’s cathedral at Killarney, the effect must have been most dramatic. The destruction of this unique nave is one of the heaviest losses that English architecture has sustained.
Of the central tower, the south-east pier has been rebuilt; the north-east and south-west piers have been cased. The north and west arches of the tower survive; the south and east arches have been rebuilt. The nave was considerably wider than the central aisle of the choir; the tower was therefore not built square; the northern arch being set obliquely, and not parallel to the southern one. Outside, however, the north side of the tower is corbelled out till the tower becomes square.
NORTH TRANSEPT.
The design of the choir is best seen in the east side of the north transept, which retains the original round-headed windows. In the choir the western windows of the north aisle were converted into lancets in the thirteenth century. The design of transept and choir is almost Greek in its severity. Very effective is the contrast of broad wall-surface and plain splayed window with the light and slender shafted arcades of triforium and clerestory. In proportions, too, it is superior to nearly all later designs. The pier-arches are tall and narrow, and the triforium thoroughly subordinated to the tall clerestory; the proportions approximate closely to those of Westminster Abbey and Beverley Minster. It is remarkable, too, for the studied absence of foliated ornament. Not that the builders could not design a foliated capital; they have left one or two, in unnoticed corners of the north transept, to show their powers. All the capitals of the choir are moulded capitals, as at Roche Abbey—perhaps occurring here for the first time. Being a first attempt, they can hardly be considered a success; they were soon to be improved upon in the French crypt of Canterbury. The designer relied on architectural effects pure and simple, and was followed in his ascetic self-restraint sixty years later in the eastern transept of Fountains and at Salisbury. Even more remarkable is the complete abolition of Norman ornament. The billet, the zigzag, the whole barbaric congeries of Norman ornament is contemptuously cast aside. In this respect, indeed, Ripon is much more advanced than Canterbury choir, which was not commenced till 1174. The clerestory, however, is of a familiar Norman type, being an adaptation of that of Romsey and Waltham Abbey, and Peterborough and Oxford cathedrals; it was reproduced a little later in Hexham choir.
The vaulting-shafts rest on the abaci, French fashion. In the choir there are five vaulting-shafts, which in the clerestory diminish to one. The effect is not satisfactory, and a different treatment is adopted in the transept. It is noteworthy that the vaulting of the north transept aisle contains an exceptionally early example of ridge-ribs, both longitudinal and transverse.
In spite of round-headed windows and round-headed arches here and there, the whole design of the interior is light and graceful, thoroughly Gothic. Externally it is just the reverse; but for a pointed arcade in the clerestory one might imagine one was back again in the early days of the twelfth century. But when one compares the interior with that of Oxford Cathedral, which is precisely contemporary, and in which the spirit of Gothic is wholly absent, suspicion rises to certainty: Ripon Minster must have been designed under French influence. The tall, acute, pointed pier-arches of Notre Dame, Chalons-sur-Marne, and Sens (commenced c. 1140) reappear in Ripon choir, and the undoubtedly French choir of Canterbury. The Chalons triforium reappears in the north wall of Ripon transept; the Chalons clerestory in that of Ripon nave. The clerestory of Ripon choir is practically that of the French choir of Canterbury, itself probably suggested by that of Sens. French too, are the vaulting-shafts of the choir, insecurely balancing on the abaci; and the broadness and plain splays of the windows.
IV. Lancet.—To this period belong the vaulting and piers of the present chapter-house; and the west front, which, like York transept and Southwell choir, is attributed to Archbishop Gray (ob. 1255). The west front is too flat; deficient in play of light and shade; correct and uninteresting. It is ruined by the loss of its wooden spires, removed in 1664; and by the miserable little pinnacles put up in 1797. Before the aisles were built, these towers projected clear of the nave, their inner walls are Transitional; but the Transitional arch has been taken out and replaced by one of the Lancet period.
V. Geometrical.—The lower row of lancets in the west front once had charming tracery, inserted early in the Geometrical period. This was destroyed by Scott.
CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.
About 1280 the east end of the choir seems to have collapsed—partly, perhaps, in consequence of the steep fall of the ground eastwards. It was rebuilt, with the damaged portions of the choir, with exceptional strength in consequence. The east end is a vigorous, massive design, something like that of Guisborough or Selby. Only the eastern portion of the choir has flying buttresses. The clerestory windows have an inner arcade. Ripon choir alone, of English cathedrals, possesses a glazed triforium, the lean-to roof of the aisles having been replaced by a flat roof (see Ely).
VI. To the Curvilinear period (1315-1360) belong the Lady loft and the sedilia. The latter originally stood one bay more to the west. In the Tudor period the arches of the sedilia seem to have received the present clumsy shafts.
VII. Perpendicular (1360-1485).—In 1458 the southern and eastern sides of the central tower collapsed, greatly damaging the adjacent parts of the choir and transept, as well as the stalls. The eastern aisle of the south transept and much of the south side of the choir, as well as part of the tower, had to be rebuilt; and about 1490 the present choir-stalls were put up. In the choir the builders, with a conservatism which does them credit, both in the work of 1280 and in that of 1458, preserved all they could of the twelfth-century work, and both in the Geometrical and the Perpendicular bays of the triforium retained the semicircular arch of the older design. The result is a curious blend of styles. Starting from the east, the first pier on the north side is Geometrical, the rest Transitional. On the south side the first pier is Geometrical, the second Transitional, the third and fourth Perpendicular. To give more support to the tower, the north-east and south-west piers were cased; the south-east pier was rebuilt, and the southern and eastern arches were rebuilt. To strengthen the eastern piers of the tower, the two western bays of the arcade of the choir were blocked up, and a massive choir-screen was inserted c. 1480.
CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.
VIII. Tudor.—Early in the sixteenth century the canons unhappily determined to give their unique church more of the look of a cathedral by adding aisles to the nave. It is pleasant to add that they were unsuccessful. The nave is exceedingly low in proportion to its exceptional span, and being, moreover, unprovided with a triforium, does not look in the least like a cathedral, but like a very inferior parish church. Externally, the buttresses are of fine composition, and if the pinnacles were completed, the nave would be very handsome externally.
In 1593 the central spire—of timber and lead—was struck by lightning, and in 1660 it was removed. It was 120 feet high. In 1664, for fear of a similar catastrophe, the western spires also were removed. The result is that, seen from a distance, minus spires and minus pinnacles, Ripon Minster is stunted and squat.