Black Bull, Ripon

The Black Bull is a historic pub in Ripon, a city in North Yorkshire, in England. The pub lies on the Old Market Place. The western part of the pub is a timber-framed building, constructed in the 17th century, while the eastern part of the pub was built in the early 19th century. By this time, it was an important coaching inn, served by the Earl of Zetland, Richmond Courier, Impire and Union stagecoaches. The western part was refronted in the mid 19th century. The pub was grade II listed in 1949. In 2013, the pub was renamed "So! Bar and Eats", but in 2024 it returned to the "Black Bull" name. It is owned by Greene King. The building is roughcast with pantile roofs, the right higher, and each part has two storeys and two bays. The left part contains two two-storey bay windows with moulded cornices, and above is a parapet. On the right part is a doorway with reeded pilaster, a semicircular fanlight and a cornice, to its left is a small round-headed window, above is a sash window with a wedge lintel and a keystone, and to the right is a two-storey bow window. Inside, there is a mid-18th century staircase. The bar is in the eastern section, while the western section has a further seating area, and there is a large games area upstairs.

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Workhouse Museum

The Workhouse Museum is a museum in Ripon, a city in North Yorkshire, in England. In 1776, William Aislabie donated a house known as "Old Hall" for the use of the poor of Ripon. It was demolished and a new workhouse constructed on the site in 1855. In 1877, a block for vagrants was added. In 1953, it was renamed Sharow View, and remained open until 1974. The building was then used as offices for the North Yorkshire Social Services and Probation Services departments. In 1996, Ripon Museums Trust converted the gatehouse into a museum. It restored and opened the garden to the public in 2010, and then in 2017 acquired the main block of the workhouse, more than doubling the size of the museum. The main block and gatehouse are both grade II listed buildings. The main block is built of brown brick, with stone dressings, quoins, and a slate roof with coped gables on cut kneelers. There are two storeys and eleven bays, the middle three bays projecting under two shaped gables with finials. The flanking wings each has one smaller shaped gable with a smaller finial. The central doorway has a four-centred arched head and a projecting surround. The windows are a mix of sashes and casements. The gatehouse is built of red brick with stone dressings, quoins, a moulded string course, and a slate roof with coped gables. There are two storeys and three bays. In the centre is a carriage entry with a four-centred arch flanked by buttresses, above which is an inscribed and dated parapet. Over this is a three-light stepped mullioned window and a shaped gable. The other windows are casements. The main block is flanked by single-storey three-bay wings, the right wing extending towards the road.

Ripon Obelisk

The Ripon Obelisk is an obelisk monument in the centre of Ripon, North Yorkshire, England and the oldest free standing obelisk monument in the United Kingdom. It is located in the market square of Ripon, and serves as a market cross. It is 82 feet (25 m) tall. The obelisk was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and constructed in 1702 with the support of John Aislabie, Ripon's Member of Parliament. It has been granted Grade I status and was first listed in 1949. Hawksmoor may have been inspired by recent discoveries that Ripon might have originally been a Roman town. In his 1724 book A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain Daniel Defoe notes "In the middle of it stands a curious column of stone, imitating the obelisks of the ancients, though not so high, but rather like the pillar in the middle of Covent Garden, or that in Lincoln's Inn". In 1781 the monument was restored by William Aislabie, the son of the obelisk's founder and himself a long-standing MP to celebrate his sixty years in Parliament. At this point a weathervane was added in the style of the Ripon hornblower. A plaque was added soon afterwards, which misleadingly implies that William was the builder of the monument.

Ripon

Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. The city was originally known as Inhrypum. Bede records that Alhfrith, king of the Southern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira, gave land at Ripon to Eata of Hexham to build a monastery and the abbot transferred some of his monks there, including a young Saint Cuthbert who was guest-master at Ripon abbey. Both Bede in his Life of Cuthbert and Eddius Stephanus in his Life of Wilfred state that when Eata was subsequently driven out by Alhfrith, the abbey was given to Saint Wilfrid who replaced the timber church with a stone built church. This was during the time of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, a period during which it enjoyed prominence in religious importance in Great Britain. It was for a period under Viking control, and later suffered under the Normans. After a brief period of building projects under the Plantagenets, the city emerged with a prominent wool and cloth industry. Ripon became well known for its production of spurs during the 16th and 17th centuries, but would later remain largely unaffected by the Industrial Revolution. Ripon is the third-smallest city in England and the smallest in Yorkshire, by population. According to the 2011 United Kingdom census it had a population of 16,702, an increase on the 2001 census figure of 15,922. It is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Thirsk, 16 miles (26 km) south of Northallerton and 12 miles (19 km) north of Harrogate. As well as its racecourse and cathedral, Ripon is a tourist destination because of its proximity to the UNESCO World Heritage Site which consists of the Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey.

The Unicorn Hotel

The Unicorn Hotel is a historic building in Ripon, a city in North Yorkshire, in England. The site, on the Market Place, has been occupied by an inn since the mediaeval period. The Unicorn was first recorded in the 17th century, and it became the city's most important coaching inn. The inn was rebuilt in the 1750s, although it may contain some older material. In the early 19th century, a third storey was added to the building. Visitors to the hotel included Lewis Carroll in 1858. In 2011, the property was acquired by Wetherspoons, which refurbished it, following which it had 32 rooms and several eating and drinking areas. The building was grade II listed in 1970. The hotel is built of whitewashed brick, with a modillion and dentilled eaves cornice. There are four storeys and three bays. At the right is a round-headed doorway with Tuscan three-quarter columns, an entablature, and a semicircular fanlight, above which is a suspended moulded flat hood on moulded scrolled consoles. The lower two floors contain canted bay windows with moulded cornices, and on the top two floors are sash windows. The hotel incorporates another building, to the left, which was built in the 18th century and is separately grade II listed. It is constructed of grooved stucco or painted stone, has a wooden modillion eaves cornice and a blocking course, and a slate roof. There are three storeys and four bays. The ground floor has two shopfronts. The right, dating from the mid-19th century, has Tuscan pilasters and a moulded cornice. The left, dating from the late 19th century is more elaborate, with fluted pilasters, a door in a recessed porch with an oblong fanlight, another door in a recessed porch between plate glass windows, and glazing bars continued upwards to form a floral motif. On the upper floors are sash windows.