Ripon Town Hall

Ripon Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which was the headquarters of Ripon Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

Ripon Town Hall
Ripon Town Hall
LocationMarket Place, Ripon
Coordinates54.1358°N 1.5239°W / 54.1358; -1.5239
Built1799
ArchitectJames Wyatt
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameRipon Town Hall
Designated27 May 1949
Reference no.1174370
Ripon Town Hall is located in North Yorkshire
Ripon Town Hall
Shown in North Yorkshire

History
Plaque in the town hall which acknowledges the role of Elizabeth Allanson in commissioning the building

The building was commissioned, as a place for preserving the borough muniments, by Elizabeth Allanson, who had inherited Studley Royal Park from her father, William Aislabie, and was also the widow of the former local Member of Parliament, Charles Allanson.[2] The site she selected was occupied by two buildings, one of which was a public house which had previously been used by the borough council for its meetings.[3]

The new building was designed by James Wyatt in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a stuccoed coating and was completed in 1799.[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the Market Square; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway with a fanlight on the ground floor flanked by round headed windows.[1] There were three sash windows on the first floor protected by wrought-iron railings and flanked by Ionic order columns supporting an frieze as well as a modillioned pediment.[1] Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor.[1]

Following the death of Elizabeth Allanson, ownership of the building passed to her niece, Mrs Elizabeth Sophie Lawrence, in 1808, then to a distant relative, Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, in 1845 and then to Grey's nephew, the Marquess of Ripon, in 1859: also, in that year, the Yorkshire Agricultural Show Horticultural Society decided to pay for a clock which was installed in the tympanum of the pediment.[3]

In August 1886, as a permanent record of the Ripon Millenary Festival, a pageant to celebrate the supposed millenary of the granting of a Royal Charter to Ripon by Alfred the Great, the frieze at the top of the building was inscribed with the words "Except Ye Lord Keep Ye Cittie Ye Wakeman Waketh in Vain".[5] The inscription reflects Psalm 127 "unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." The substitution of the word "wakeman" for "watchman" refers to the wakeman or horn blower who was responsible blowing the horn at the corners of the market cross at 9pm every night at the start of the nightly patrol to identify any enemies in the city.[6] The Marquess of Ripon assigned the building to the borough as a gift on 31 July 1897.[7]

The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century[8] but it ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Harrogate District Council was formed in 1974.[9] Concerns over the deteriorating fabric of the building led to Ripon City Council, as tenant, to request, in March 2021, that Harrogate Borough Council, as owner of the building, carry out urgent repairs.[10]

Works of Art in the town hall include a portrait by Henry Milbourne of the benefactor, Elizabeth Allanson,[11] a portrait by Sir James Thornhill of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Aislabie,[12] and a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence of the former Prime Minister, Viscount Goderich.[13]

See also

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ripon Town Hall.
  1. Historic England. "Ripon Town Hall (1174370)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  2. "Ripon". Kelly's Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 1881. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  3. Taylor, Maurice; Stride, Alan (2011). Ripon Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445600031.
  4. "Ripon: Conservation Area Character Appraisal". Harrogate Borough Council. p. 8. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  5. Harrison, William (1892). Ripon Millenary, a Record of the Festival. Also a History of the City, Arranged Under Its Wakemen and Mayors From the Year 1400. Ripon Borough Council. p. 254.
  6. "Ripon's hornblower". BBC. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  7. Presentation of the town hall to the city of Ripon by the Marquess of Ripon. Being a full account of the proceedings on the 31 July 1897, the speeches at the commemorative luncheon and the sermon by the Dean of Ripon on the following Sunday. Ripon Borough Council. 1897.
  8. "No. 44219". The London Gazette. 3 January 1967. p. 105.
  9. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  10. "Calls for makeover of 'deteriorating' Ripon Town Hall". Darlington and Stockton Times. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  11. Milbourne, Henry. "Mrs Elizabeth Allanson of Studley Royal". Art UK. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  12. "John Aislabie, Esq., Mayor of Ripon (1702–1703) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1714–1716)". Art UK. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  13. Lawrence, Thomas. "'Prosperity' Frederick John Robinson". Art UK. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
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