[Illustration Ripon Cathedral from North Evening]
In 1836 an episcopal see was erected at Ripon, and Charles Langley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, became its first bishop.
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.
[Illustration 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.