The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and Architecture

by P. H. Ditchfield

The Exterior

Although Ripon is not a Cathedral of the first magnitude or splendour, yet it is a stately structure, and greatly superior to many of our ecclesiastical buildings. It possesses also some features of profound interest, and the story of its building is attractive. Approaching the church from the market-place by Kirkgate we see the beautiful West Front, which compares favourably with most others, except perhaps York, Lincoln, Peterborough and Wells. It has much dignity and beauty. It consists of a gable between two square towers. The nave, built by Archbishop Roger, was Late Norman or Transitional, and to this Archbishop Grey added this façade in the best and purest period of the Early English style. In the lowest storey are three deeply-recessed doorways, with detached shafts. Round and hollow mouldings are used, and the dog-tooth ornament, the hall-mark of the Early English style, is plentiful. The doors are old. Above are five-lancet windows, and above them another row of five lancets of unequal height. The dog-tooth is used in the mouldings. The towers have four stages. In the lowest is an arcade of trefoiled arches, and above lancets. Nail-head moulding is used in the string-courses. When the spires were pulled down in 1660, battlemented parapets were added, and later the pinnacles. The whole front has been much restored. There is a fine peal of ten bells in the south tower. There were formerly some old bells, one of which is said to have been brought from Fountains Abbey, but these have all been recast, and their interest has vanished. The nave has six bays, and was built in Perpendicular style in 1503. The south side is earlier than and superior to the north. The arches of the windows are less acutely pointed, and the buttresses have three stages, are crocketed, and have large finials. The pitch of the roof has been lowered since the nave was built.

The Great Buttresses
Ripon

The Central Tower was rebuilt on the south and east sides in Perpendicular times, while the north and west retain Roger's work. It was formerly capped by a spire. Returning to the north side we see the north side of the nave, which is later than the south. There are six buttresses, which project widely and have two stages with crockets and finials, and grotesques. The arches of the windows both in the aisles and clerestory are very acute, and those of the latter have five lights. From this point we see the original faces of the central tower, built by Roger (1154-1181), which has round-headed windows. The presence of dog-tooth shows the approach of the Early English style. The North Transept is also part of Roger's church and the best example of his work; it has round-headed windows. The parapet is later. We notice two sculptured stones in the north-west buttress, with rich scroll-work, evidently Saxon, and probably taken from Wilfrid's church. The doorway in the north side is remarkable, having a plain trefoil head rising from a corbel-like projection, and is flanked by three receding detached shafts with foliated capitals. The Choir has three bays of Transitional Norman work, but the windows are Decorated. The remainder of this side was built late in the thirteenth century and is Decorated. The east end, with its grand window, is very fine. Massive buttresses stand on each side of the front with octagonal turrets. In the north turret there is a small chamber which was probably a reclusorium. The east window is flanked by heavy buttresses. The gable was rebuilt by Scott. The window (51 feet by 25 feet) is a magnificent specimen of Early Decorated work, one of the finest in England. On the south side we see the three eastern windows are Decorated as on the north, but the rest are Perpendicular. On this side is a building which retains some of the earliest Norman work in the Cathedral, probably built by Thomas of Bayeaux, archbishop (1069-1100). This building has three storeys—a crypt, the chapter-house and the Lady Chapel (erected in the fourteenth century), which we shall examine later. The South Transept retains much of Roger's Transitional work, but the east side was altered and rebuilt in Perpendicular times. On the south side is a fine doorway contemporary with the transept and resembling somewhat that on the north.

The Apse
Ripon Cathedral

The Interior

Entering by the west door we see a fine and imposing Nave, with tall and graceful piers that support without any intermediate triforium a range of lofty windows of elaborate tracery. This nave was constructed in the Perpendicular period, as we have said, and the main arcades stand on the foundation of Roger's earlier church. The latter had no aisles. These the sixteenth-century builders added, taking as their western starting-point the northern and southern extremities of the west tower. Hence the nave is unusually wide (87 feet), and exceeds all other cathedrals except York, Chichester, Winchester and St. Paul's. There are many points of architectural interest. The west bays opening into the tower are Early English. On either side is a lofty thirteenth-century arch, with plain mouldings, and capitals deeply undercut. Above is a blind arcade of four arches enclosed in a circular arch—this occupies the triforium stage; and the clerestory has a triple window, the centre round-headed, the side ones pointed. The west end, with its ranges of lancets, is most effective. The glass is modern. The next bay shows us clearly the character of Roger's church, and eastward we come to the Perpendicular work of the early sixteenth century, which appears to be earlier than it really is. The traditions of the earlier style lingered on amid the hills and dales of Yorkshire, while the architects and townsfolk of less remote places had developed the more familiar details of the Perpendicular period. The roof is modern. The arch of the tower facing us is part of Roger's church, but there is a curious mass of masonry on the south pier which was erected by the Perpendicular builders, when want of funds or the dissolution of the chapter prevented the completion of the design. The contrast between the materials of the old building and the new in the nave will be noticed. The former is fashioned of yellow gritstone, the latter of white limestone. The aisles are Perpendicular work erected about 1503. The vaulting is modern. In the south aisle is the font, or rather there are two fonts. The earlier one reposes in the corner, and is Roger's work; the later is Perpendicular. Ripon is not very rich in monuments. In this same aisle there is a curious altar tomb with a slab of grey marble, upon which is carved the figure of a lion and near it that of a man kneeling. Tradition states that it covered the body of an Irish prince, who died here on his return from Palestine, whence he had brought a lion that followed him like a dog. There is some old glass, fragments of which have been collected in the window near the font. In the North Aisle at the west end is the consistory court. The old Saxon Crypt deserves close attention and has occasioned many conjectures and much antiquarian disputing. It is undoubtedly very early, and may with safety be assumed to have been part of St. Wilfrid's church. After descending several steps and passing along passages, which have two niches in the wall, we arrive at a cylindrically vaulted chamber (7 feet by 11 feet), and on the north side is the famous "St. Wilfrid's Needle." Formerly the superstition attached to it was that no unchaste woman could with safety pass through it; now we are told that if a virgin "threads the needle" she will be married within a year. This needle is only an enlargement of one of the niches which were doubtless used for lights. Recent excavations have been made here, which revealed the remains of an altar, a passage round the chamber, and a quantity of bones which were probably relics. It is conjectured that this was a relic chamber, and was built under the church of Wilfrid. It is impossible to touch upon all the interesting problems which this curious chamber suggests, especially as affecting the position and form of Wilfrid's early Saxon church.