Historical map of Ripon
Library, Moss's Arcade, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 1AG
Ripon’s long and involved history as a settlement around a Christian church dates from the 7th century when Wilfrid, later Archbishop of York, founded a church dedicated to St Peter. The crypt of Wilfrid’s church astonishingly survives beneath the magnificent later cathedral. It prospered from being near Fountains Abbey and became a medieval woollen cloth centre. Later it became a centre of non-conformist groups, and a market town, before becoming the cathedral centre of a new diocese in 1836. It had the many buildings associated with its local importance; its 19th-century workhouse complex is the most complete one surviving today. It also housed an enormous army camp in World War I and a Prisoner of War camp in World War II
Library, Moss's Arcade, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 1AG