The Yorkshire Dales

Towns & Villages

RIPON

Hornblast in Ripon -
Photo: Phil Catterall CCL

Ripon’s market square forms a hub for a series of narrow, winding streets and from a central obelisk a horn is sounded at 9pm each evening by an official hornblower known as The Wakeman.





His 13th century house contains a small museum and is one of the town’s most intriguing buildings.





Newby Hall, an 18th century mansion designed by Robert Adam, is one of the finest stately homes in the region.

Fountains Abbey is an awesome ruin and was one of the first foundations to be sold off by Henry Vlll in 1540.

Benedictine monks from York built it in the 12th century after adopting Cistercian rules and turned it into one of the richest communities in England.

The adjacent grounds of Studley Royal were the work of John Aislabe who devoted his life to this magnificent garden following the disastrous South Sea Bubble.

Fountains Abbey Ripon - Photo: Pete Burnett CCL

Ripon Cathedral -
Photo: Tom Pennington CCL

Ripon’s magnificent cathedral started life as a church built by St Wilfrid in the 7th century.





The crypt of this building can still be seen in the 13th century cathedral, which also has 500-year-old woodcarvings and wonderful stained glass windows.