Ripon

Coordinates: 54°08′17″N 1°31′25″W / 54.13796°N 1.52365°W / 54.13796; -1.52365

Ripon (/ˈrɪpən/) is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally significant, as well as the Ripon Racecourse and other features such as its market. The city itself is just over 1,300 years old.

The city was originally known as Inhrypum and was founded by Saint Wilfrid during the time of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, a period during which it enjoyed prominence in terms of 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 century, but would later remain largely unaffected by the Industrial Revolution.

Ripon (disambiguation)

Ripon is a city in North Yorkshire, England.

Ripon may also refer to:

Places

Transportation

Other uses

See also

Ripon (UK Parliament constituency)

Ripon was a constituency sending members to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1983, centred on the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire.

History

Ripon was first represented in the Model Parliament of 1295, and also returned members in 1307 and 1337, but it was not permanently represented until 1553, after which it returned two Members of Parliament. It was a parliamentary borough consisting only of the town of Ripon itself until the Great Reform Act of 1832; the right to vote was vested in the holders of the burgage tenements, but voting was rare for the last contested election in Ripon before the Reform Act had been in 1715! By 1832 it was estimated that there were 43 men qualified to vote, though the population of the borough was over 5,000.

A population of this size made Ripon one of the more substantial boroughs, and after the Reform Act it kept its right to return two members, though the boundaries of the borough were slightly extended to bring in another 600 people living in the neighbouring parish of Aismunderby-cum-Bondgate. However, the next Reform Act, which came into force at the 1868 election, reduced Ripon's representation from two MPs to one.