Ripon is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, with a population in 2024 of 17,000. Its main attraction is the cathedral, and the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden. It’s also a good base for exploring the Yorkshire Dales.
Understand
[edit].jpg)
Ripon has long been a religious centre. In 1132 thirteen monks were expelled from the Benedictine house in York (rioting, rowdiness, just the usual monastic peccadilloes). They found a new base in the valley of the little River Skell and affiliated to the Cistercians. Their abbey grew wealthy through wool, and they farmed far and wide, even as far away as Preston ("priest town") across the Pennines. The great stone buildings of Fountains Abbey grew up in the 12th and 13th centuries. It then struggled, through instability in the wool trade, attack by the Scots, plague, and the Papal schism. It revived in the 14th century but like other monasteries was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539.
The abbey lands passed through several owners until in 1693 they were inherited by John Aislabie, who from 1718 was Chancellor of the Exchequer. In that role he almost bankrupted the entire country single-handed, by touting the South Sea Company, set up to operate the slave trade. Remarkably this made a loss, and its bubble share price collapsed in 1720. Aislabie was thrown out of Parliament, imprisoned in the Tower of London and barred from public office. With time on his hands upon his release, he set about prettifying his estate. His son William added the abbey ruins to the estate, and created the water garden. In 1983 it passed to the National Trust.
Ripon meanwhile grew as a provincial market town; it was connected for a while by canal and railway but never became industrial, so its old centre has been preserved. Its church connection continued into modern times, with a women's Anglican teacher training college based here from 1862. In 1974 this merged with a similar men's college to form the College of Ripon and York St John. It later affiliated to the University of Leeds, then to York and relocated there in 2001. It's now the independent York St John University.
Get in
[edit]
Ripon is 5 miles west of A1(M). From the south leave at Boroughbridge exit 48 and follow A168 to B6265 - A1(M) runs parallel but has no interchange at that point. The B road takes you into Ripon and onwards to Fountains Abbey.
The closest railway station is Harrogate, with trains every 30 min from Leeds and York, both taking 40 min. From Harrogate join Bus 36.
Transdev Bus 36 runs every 30 min from Leeds, taking 1 hr 45 min via Harrogate - between Leeds and Harrogate it's every 10 min.
East Yorkshire Bus 82 / 83 / 84 runs every two hours from York, taking 80 min via Boroughbridge.
National Express coaches no longer run to Ripon, change at Leeds.
Get around
[edit]Dales Bus 159 runs from Ripon to Masham, Leyburn and Richmond M-Sa every couple of hours, passing Jervaulx Abbey and Middleham Castle.
Dales Bus 139 runs from Ripon to Fountains Abbey M Th Sa at 9:45AM, 11:15AM and 4:25PM, taking 15 min. It returns at 11:30AM, 2:40PM and 4:40PM.
Taxi firms are Daz (+44 7588 497517) and Andrew (+44 1765 601792).
See
[edit]
- The Watchman blows his horn on Market Square at 9 pm, as he has every night since 886 AD, to warn everyone to get indoors, safe from marauding Vikings. The horn was originally presented by King Alfred the Great, to symbolise Ripon’s charter as a city, and to remind folk to stay vigilant against the foes he’d defeated.
- 1 Cathedral, Minster Rd HG4 1QT, ☏ +44 1765 603462. M-Sa 8AM-6PM, Su 8AM-5PM. The oldest part of the building is the Saxon Crypt, the only remnant of the stone church built here in 672 AD by St Wilfred. It’s been continually added to, smashed down and rebuilt ever since, so the present fourth incarnation of the building is mostly Gothic and Early English. Free.
- Law & Order Museum is on three sites: the Workhouse Museum, the Courthouse Museum, and the Police & Prison Museum, you buy a combined ticket for a Rake’s Progress of social decline. They're all open daily Mar-Oct, combi adult £19, conc £18, child £10.50. Individual museum entry is also available, as below.
- 2 Workhouse Museum & Garden, 76 Allhallowgate HG4 1LE. 10AM-4PM. The 19th century increase in poverty outstripped voluntary and church charity. The solution was to pack the able-bodied poor into institutions and set them to work: the more pointless and demeaning the task the better. The system lasted most of a century, by which time most inmates were sick, elderly or frail, and the solution had to be state-funded welfare. Adult £11, conc £10.50, child £7.50.
- 3 Courthouse Museum, Minster Road HG4 1QS. 1-4PM. The town courthouse in its 1830 layout. Adult £4.50, conc £4, child £3.75.
- 4 Prison & Police Museum, St Marygate HG4 1LX. 10AM-4PM. British prisons were filthy dungeons until the 18th / 19th century reforms driven by John Howard, and the police were a rotten lot until Robert Peel's reforms of 1829. This museum shows conditions at the start of those changes. Adult £8.50, conc £8, child £6.
- Chapel of St Mary Magdalen on Magdalen's Road half a mile north of the cathedral was founded in the 12th century as part of a leper hospital. It was re-modelled in the 15th century, fell into disuse in the 19th but has been restored. None of the medieval skeletons found about it showed signs of leprosy (Hansen's Disease), but any disfiguring chronic skin disease could get you so labelled and shunned.
- Ripon Canal starts from town centre and courses south for two miles to join the River Ure. It was completed in 1773, bringing in coal and taking out agricultural goods, but in the 1840s a railway company got their hands on it and deliberately let it fall derelict. It was abandoned in the 1950s but a campaign group had it restored. It's navigable throughout, as is the Ure beyond which connects to the Ouse-Aire-Calder canal network. There's a footpath but no cycleway.
- 5 Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, Fountains, Ripon HG4 3DY (4 miles west of Ripon, follow B6265.), ☏ +44 1765 608888, [email protected]. Daily Apr-Oct 10AM-6PM, Nov-Mar 10AM-4PM. The abbey was founded in 1132 by a group of monks expelled from the Benedictines. They affiliated with the Cistercians, and Fountains grew up in Norman style. It went through a bad patch in the 12th and 13th centuries, but revived in the 14th and 15th, then Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539. The land came into the hands of the Mallory and Aislabie families, who beautified the river valley with a landscaped water garden. Most visitors start from the west entrance and visitor centre, free parking. Look into the stables (which exhibits medieval textiles) and Fountains Hall (a beautiful Jacobean mansion with a display of the 1930s, when a model farm was established for the unemployed.) You then descend into the valley for the old water mill, then the abbey ruins, with a cloister, church and living quarters. The Huby Tower on the north transept looks much newer: it was added just before the Dissolution. Continue downstream through the water park, dotted with cod-classical follies and a few modern art installations. This leads to the north gate, where you can exit to see Studley Park then show your ticket for re-entry. You can also start from this end but parking is charged. Adult £23.10, child £11.60, NT free.
- Studley Park is outside the north gate of the abbey and water park, so you could visit separately, but most visitors see the abbey first, then exit into Studley Park. There's an ornamental lake, and the 19th-century St Mary’s Church, paid for with the unspent ransom for Frederick Grantham Vyner, murdered in 1870 by Greek bandits before they could collect. The Choristers House is a charming Victorian Gothic creation adjacent. Formerly a music school, nowadays it’s let by the National Trust as a holiday cottage (five bedrooms, sleeps ten). Beyond stretches a deer park. Studley Royal House in the park was a medieval manor which burnt down and was replaced by a Palladian mansion. This too burnt down in 1946, but the stable block survived and was converted into a private residence, which you can't visit.
- 6 Newby Hall, Skelton-on-Ure HG4 5AE (3 miles southeast of Ripon), ☏ +44 1423 322583. Apr-Sep Tu-Su 11AM-5:30PM. Elegant mansion built in the 1690s by Sir Christopher Wren, with the interior re-done by Adam in the 18th century. Visit by guided tour then see the extensive gardens. Occasionally closed for events. No dogs. Adult £29.80, child £24.
- 7 Aldborough Roman Villa, Front St, Aldborough YO51 9ES (7½ miles southeast of Ripon on B6265), ☏ +44 1423 322768. Mar-Oct Su 11AM-4PM. The Brigantes were a Celtic tribe in the north of England at the time the Romans arrived. They made peace and themselves became Romanised, with the large fort and settlement of Isurium Brigantum growing up here from the 1st century AD. The site, run by English Heritage, has a stretch of the defensive walls and two fine mosaics from a villa. The village church stands on the site of the forum. Visit by pre-booked guided tour. Adult £6, child £3.60.
- 8 The Devil's Arrows are a row of three gritstones about 6 m tall and fluted by erosion; two others have been lost. They're probably late Neolithic and had astronomical alignments. They're on Roecliffe Lane at the west edge of Boroughbridge, accessible free 24 hours.
- 9 Thornborough Henges are three large circular earthworks near the village of Thornborough. They're some 4500 years old, aligned in a "dog leg" thought to mimic the belt of Orion, obviously of ritual purpose. The landscape has been marred by quarrying but all three are now in the care of English Heritage, with free access 24 hours. The north circle is wooded but the best preserved, access off Moor Lane. The central and south circles are accessed of New Lane.
Do
[edit]
- 1 Ripon Races, Boroughbridge Rd HG4 1UG, ☏ +44 1765 530530. This has flat-racing April-Oct.
- Jack Laugher Centre is the leisure centre on Dallamires Lane, with gym, fitness classes and pool.
- Golf: Ripon City GC is half a mile north of town on A6108. White tees 6084 yards, par 70.
- 2 Lightwater Valley, Water Lane, North Stainley HG4 3HT (4 miles north of Ripon), ☏ +44 1765 635321. July Aug daily, Apr-Jun & Sep-Oct Sa Su, 9AM-4PM. Theme park with 40 rides pitched at under-12s. Adult or child over 90 cm £26.50.
- Harrogate Flower Show have their spring show at Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, but their autumn show is at Newby Hall (above), in September.
- Ripon International Festival is mostly classical music, at various local venues in Sep and Oct.
Buy
[edit]
- Ripon Market is held on Thursday and Saturday 8AM-2PM in the main square.
- Sainsbury's is the main supermarket, on the main square and open M-Sa 8AM-8PM, Su 10AM-4PM.
Eat
[edit]- Kirkgate has Claro Lounge, Hot Lava, E Sushi, Manchega Tapas, Lula's Cafe, Prima Pizzeria, Portofino, Wilfred's Cafe, Mario's, Jaflong and Cathedral View Cafe.
- North St has Oliver's Pantry (below), Realitea and Storehouse Kitchen.
- Oliver's Pantry, 86 North St HG4 1DP, ☏ +44 1765 600548, [email protected]. M-Sa 8:30AM-5PM, Su 9:30AM-4PM. Breakfast & lunch plus coffee, tea, snacks and pastries.
- 1 The Dining Room, 20 St James Square, Boroughbridge YO51 9AR, ☏ +44 1423 326426. Tu-Sa 9AM-3PM. High quality British fare.
- 2 Where There's Smoke (formerly Vennell's), 7 Silver St, Masham HG4 4DX, ☏ +44 1765 689000. Th-Sa 6:30AM-11PM. Classic British cuisine.
Drink
[edit]- Town centre has Hornblower Tavern, The Black Bull, Golden Lion, One Eyed Rat (below), Black Swan, King Willian IV, Royal Oak (see Sleep) and The Portly Pig.
- One Eyed Rat, 51 Allhallowgate HG4 1LQ, ☏ +44 1765 607704. M-Th 4-10PM, F 2-11PM, Sa Su noon-11PM. Traditional pub with log fire, excellent range of real ales.
- Hambleton Brewery, Melmerby Green Lane, Melmerby HG4 5NB. They make beer.
- Little Red Berry, Sycamore Business Park (3 miles east of town). This makes gin. No tours.
- Spirit of Masham, Masham Business Park. They make gin. Tours available.
Sleep
[edit]Sep2003.jpg)
- 1 Unicorn Hotel, 10 Market Place HG4 1BP, ☏ +44 1765 643410. Central 17th-century inn now run by Wetherspoons. Efficient and clean, but many parts of the hotel are not wheelchair-accessible. Double (room only) £90.
- Royal Oak, 36 Kirkgate HG4 1PB (50 yards south of Unicorn), ☏ +44 1765 602284. Central pub with rooms. B&B double £100.
- 2 Ripon Inn, Park Rd HG4 2BU, ☏ +44 1765 233159. Smart little hotel west side of town. B&B double £140.
- OYO White Horse, 61 North St. It gets very mixed reviews.
- Crescent Lodge, 42 North St. A pleasant B&B.
- Fountain Guest House, 25 North Rd (a mile north of town centre).
- 3 Swinton Park, Swinton Rd, Masham HG4 4JH (10 miles north of Ripon), ☏ +44 1765 680900, [email protected]. Mock Gothic castle in grand but relaxing style. The restaurant is excellent. B&B double £480.
- 4 Little Seed Field, Castiles Farm, Ripon HG4 3PU (10 miles west of town), ☏ +44 7817 904339. Seven glamping log cabins (sleep 4) on a dairy farm. Cabin £120.
Connect
[edit]As of Feb 2026, Ripon and its approach roads have 4G from O2, Three and Vodafone, and 5G from EE.
Go next
[edit]- Harrogate is a charming spa town with fine gardens; Knaresborough is its smaller sister.
- York and Durham are both unmissable historic cities.
- Ripon is a good base for exploring the Yorkshire Dales — take in Masham, Jervaulx Abbey and Middleham Castle on the way — and the North York Moors east of Thirsk.
- For big city attractions, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne are the obvious choices.
| Routes through Ripon |
| Leeds ← Wetherby ← | S  N
|
→ Northallerton → Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Leeds ← Harrogate ← | S  NE
|
→ junction .svg){kind=small} → Thirsk
|
| merges with south ←
|
SW  NE
|
→ Thirsk → Middlesbrough |