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grade II* listed
Ripon's sanctuary crosses
Remains of a medieval sanctuary cross on Sharow road at the junction with Sharow Lane, one mile (or one league) from the cathedral. (Sharow Road leaves Ripon bypass at the North Bridge roundabout.)
This sanctuary marker is located one league from the cathedral to mark the Ripon area of sanctuary 928AD to 1540AD. There were originally eight sanctuary crosses but the base of only one remains. Seven markers now indicate where the original crosses may have stood, on routes into Ripon. The stone crosses were destroyed in the reformation and the concept of Sanctuary was finally abolished by statute of James I in 1624.
The "right of sanctuary" was granted to a number of larger churches such as Ripon, Beverley and Hexham which were surrounded by an area with a radius of one league from the church. (A league in the Domesday Book was about 1.5 miles.). In York and Durham, sanctuary began at the cathedral door. Sanctuary offered fugitives running from the "law", or the mob, a place where they were less likely to be apprehended. Research in Beverley suggests the system operated on a series of fines for "violation of sanctuary" on any person who apprehended a fugitive within the area of sanctuary. The nearer the fugitive was to the altar in the church, the bigger the fine. From the outer boundary to the edge of town, fine £8. Edge of town to churchyard, £16. In the churchyard, £48. Inside the church, £96. In the quire (the part of the chancel where the choir sang), £144. The Bank of England inflation calculator shows that £1 between 1300 and 1500 was worth about £1,000 in today's money, so only the wealthy were likely to break the sanctuary rules. If a fine wasn't paid, excommication could follow.
The fugitives offered sanctuary by the church did not escape justice. They were tried by the church courts and, if found guilty, were appropriately punished.
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