Ripon Spurs

Photograph of a rowel spur (1600 - 1750) held in the Victoria and Albert museum, London. The rowel is the spiked wheel on the back of the spur, a feature of Ripon spurs. The very high quality suggests this spur may be a Ripon spur. When king James I (James VI of Scotland) visited Ripon in 1617, staying at Thorpe Prebend House overlooking the river Skell, he was presented with a pair of quality Ripon spurs costing £5 (about £1,100 today) which he chose to wear when he left the town the next day.

courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Around Ripon are numerous reminders of Ripon's spur making industry which was at its height during the reigns of Elizabeth I and the Stuarts (1558 to 1714).

The ornament on top of the obelisk in the market square, erected in 1702 includes the horn and two interlocking rowels below it (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a star).

Crest on a pillar of Bondgate bridge erected over the river Skell in 1898. The crest includes a spur with rowel at the top, set on a bar which may represent a scroll containing the town's motto (Except ye Lord keep ye city, the Wakeman waketh in vain) The horn is below.

Ripon continues to remember its spur making days by naming a 50 mile circular walk in the countryside around the city "The Ripon Rowel". It takes in the major sights in the city and the surroundings like Fountains Abbey, Markenfield Hall, Studley Park, Newby Hall, Hackfall Woods and villages like Masham..

Waymarker on the Ripon Rowel walk

Pair of roweled spurs (left) on the crest of the Mayor's chain of office. (just above the horn) and (right) on the strap of one of the horns (left of the buckle)

Photograph of a C10th, straight sided, prick spur held in the Victoria & Albert museum. On early prick spurs the goad (spike) was like a nail which penetrated the hide of the horse when used enthusiastically. A metal "stop" was added to prevent this damage and this evolved into a safer bulb like arrangement. The rowel spur, with a spiked wheel on the back, gradually replaced the prick spur and from the early 1300s is was the main spur made.

Why spurs?

Unlike the carefully bred horses of today, medieval horses appear to have been less than enthusiastic or cooperative animals and needed "goading" or "spurring on" (terms we still use). Spurs enabled the rider to encourage the horse to do his bidding while keeping his hands free (particularly useful in battle). Early spurs were prick spurs, essentially a spike on each heal called a "goad". These spurs, used enthusiastically, damaged the horse by penetrating the skin. To prevent this a metal stop was added with evolved into a pointed bulb.

Horses were expensive to buy and to keep, so were limited to those who could afford them. The wearer of spurs came to be looked on as a man of substance, and the spur as a mark of distinction. The use of the spur came to be seen as a mark of knighthood. Spurs evolved from a practical item to a fashion item and the wrought iron was inset with precious metals, particularly silver, and the straps attaching the spur to the boots decorated with diamonds and other precious stones. The size of the rowel and the number and shape of the spikes also varied.

In the age of chivalry, to "win his spurs" by distinguishing himself in battle was the ambition of all youthful aspirants to the honour of knighthood. Should he ever disgrace his knighthood, he risked having his spurs struck from his heels, removing his badge of honour. This could be followed by a worse fate, death!

There were rules determining when and where spurs could be worn. In parliament only military members were allowed to wear their spurs. Everyone else arriving on horseback had to remove them. In Church the wearer of spurs could be fined, the fine being collected by the choir boys. The wearer could avoid the fine if he challenged the youngest chorister to repeat his gamut (which I assume was the full range of his vocal repertoire) and he was able to do so.

The roweled spur was introduced in the 1300s and replaced the spike spurs over the centuary. Ripon spurs always appear to have been rowel spurs.

courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum

A pair of boots with straight sided rowel spurs dated about 1750.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert museum.

One record we have in Ripon is on the tomb of Sir Thomas Markenfield (1335 - 1398) in the north transept of Ripon cathedral. The sculpture, in knightly regalia, clearly shows the rowelled spur, deeply curved behind the ankle, with decorated strap over his boot. Was this a Ripon made spur for a local man living in Markenfield Hall, just south of Ripon?

Considering the skills of the Ripon spurriers and the size and fame of the industry in the town, there are suprisingly few surviving records. This was also noted in the early 1880s by T. C. Heslington who decided to research the topic. He produced a short paper in 1883 (available as a booklet in the library of the Royal Armouries, Leeds).

Prick spurs, with a pointed goad, date back to Roman times and earlier. One found in Dorset has been dated to the iron age. Rowel spurs appeared in the early C13th and co-existed with prick spurs for about 100 years. From the early C14th it is thought only rowel spurs were made. The rowel is a spiked wheel at the back of the spur. The larger rowel with fewer spikes was less gentle on the horse than the small rowel with short spikes.

Early spurs had straight sides but they began to curve under the ankle from the introduction of the rowel and by the mid C13th were often deeply curved (as on Thomas Markenfield above). They were straight again by about 1500! Ripon's spur industry was renowned for its rowel spurs and there is no mention of Ripon prick spurs.

Heslington in his paper on Ripon spurs says that some spurs of the fashion of those worn in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I have been collected in the neighbourhood of Ripon. From these he produced two sketches of local spurs. It is possible these spurs are still around. The hunt is on!

From a spur of the period of Henry VIII to the reign of Elizabeth (1509 - 1603). It is of steel inlaid with silver.

From an ancient Ripon wrought spur of the period of Elizabeth and James the first (1603 - 1625). It is of steel inlaid with silver.

When did spur making start in Ripon?

There appears to be no records giving dates for the early days of spur making in Ripon. T C Heslington gives a possible date range in his paper from 1535 to 1604. In 1535 John Leland, a man who travelled around Britain and produced an itinerary of the places he visited, says of Ripon "there has been on the farther bank (south bank) of the Skell a great number of tainters of woolen cloth made in the town of Ripon: but now idleness has increased in the town, and cloth making almost decayed." (tainters = tenters, people who stretch the cloth on wooden frames and fixed it with hooks (tenterhooks) to allow it to dry.) Heslington makes the point that Leland, having noted the decline of the woolen industry, would have recorded a thriving spur making industry had it existed.

In 1604 James I issued a royal charter that restored collegiate status to the minster (which had been removed by Henry VIII) and gave Ripon a new Charter which replaced the traditional post of Wakeman with an elected Mayor and corporation. Heslington had access to the minutes of meetings of this corporation from 1606 and found numerous mentions of spurriers in the town.

George Parker in his book "A Day in the City of Ripon" notes that during the reign of Elizabeth and the Stuarts (1558 to 1714) the metal manufacturers of Ripon, notably spurs and rowels, were of world-wide celebrity. Spurriers also worked in surrounding townships and sold their spurs on Ripon market. Richard Muir in his book on the Yorkshire Dales mentions spur making in Hampsthwaite and Heslington records that one of Ripon's most gifted spur makers moved to Boroughbridge but returned a few years later.

The Rev James Bowes, a rector in Kent in his book "Travels in England, Scotland and Wales" 1707, after describing Ripon, ends "besides this, there is nothing memorable but the great number of Spurriers, who being here incorporated in a Society (Guild) make the best spurs the nation affords."

Spurriers will have been gifted (black)smiths who brought their talents to the design and manufacture of spurs. They probably worked by themselves or with an apprentice in a smithy but, in common with other workers, formed themselves into companies (Guilds) to ensure standards of production were maintained and the craft in the town was protected from any outsider (foreigner) setting up in competition.

Records from the newly established Ripon council (1604) state that in 1612 Roger Simpson was sworn Warden of the Company of Lorimers (makers of metal parts for horses including spurs).

Two years later Christopher Terry was elected Warden of the company of Blacksmiths, Locksmiths, Lorymers and Armourers, and Thomas Thornton and George Milner were elected Searchers. The Searcher was tasked with checking that the rules of the guild were maintained and its interests were protected. They also looked after "foreigners", any stranger in town even from the next town or village. Foreigners had to take up their freedom of the town before they could establish themselves in a trade controlled by a guild. Freedom came at a price and had to be renewed each year. In 1622 Henry Stott and Christopher Atkinson jun., spurriers, were admitted freeman of the Corporation at a cost of 3s. 4d. (£71 today) each. In 1630 Richard Shaw freely paid 10s (£212) to the Guild and on the same day took his oath of freedom for which he paid another 3s. The price was determined by the claimants ability to pay.

William Grainge, in his writings on Yorkshire, states in 1639; "This town (Ripon) is famous for spurres; the best workman now is one Harman, and two brothers called Porter; one Warwick was accounted the best, but he is now removed to Boro'brigge." Ten years later Richard Porter was elected Warden and Ninian Warwick a Searcher.

1666 Alderman Milner was elected Warden.

In 1662 James Coates elected Warden and Peter Hoy and Henry Thornton as searchers. Also William Farnell, Lorimer, is admitted and sworn a freeman and taken ye oathe. What he paid is unreadable.

Along with a tanner and a locksmith, Richard Webster, Lorimer was summoned for setting up a business in the town for three months while not being admitted and sworn freeman. He was fined 20s (the tanner was fined £10)

In 1693 the Mayor and Council ordered that Alderman William Curhbert Chambers pay widow Tyreman 13s due to her for spurs. In 1694 Edward Harrison was elected Warden and Richard Hammond and George Palovsour, Searchers.

In July 1681 the Corporation ordered "a pair of ye best fashioned spurres, of ye price of twenty shillings (£190) or upwards, be sent to ye Honourable Leoline Jenkyns, Knight, one of the principal Secretaries of State as a present of ye manufacture of the towne" for presenting an address to the King on behalf or the town.

One Marmaduke Rawdon who visited Ripon in 1664 describes Ripon as a "faire towne and famous for spurres and steel bows or stone bows." There is a small model of a crossbow attached to the belt of the Wakeman's horn. There was no separate Company of Bowyers. They may have been the Armourers in Company with the Smiths. In 1684 the Archbishop of York was presented with a bitt, stirrup irons, buckles and a pair of spurs when he visited Ripon. The presentation also included 2 candlesticks filled with wax and his gentleman with a dozen paire of spurres according to the Mayor's discretion.

From the Mayor's accounts in the C17th the costs of spurs can be determined. Equivalent cost today in ( );

ordinary spurs bought by the dozen 1s each pair (£8)

a pair of wrought spurs 7s. 6d. (£60)

a pair of wrought spurs which were damscened (inlaid with silver) 14s (£112)

a pair of wrought spurs for James I of silver gilt £5 (£800)

best fashioned spurs for Secretary of State £2 (£323)

(5p = 1s, 100p = £1 or 20s)

Wrought spurs were made from "worked" iron or steel and inlaid with precious metals. Steel spurs were not suitable for being embossed or chased.

There is nothing in the records to tell us where, in Ripon, the spurriers lived and worked. Bondgate, although not in Ripon township, contained a series of small workshops until last century and it is more than likely that spurriers were among them. The many "courts" (houses built around a yard) will have housed others.

By 1733 when Gent published his "History of Ripon" he seemed a little bemused by earlier statements about the success of Ripon spurs, and that may be an indicator of the slow decline of the business. Heslington suggests that the Corporation, established in 1604 may have been over zealous in its handling of fees and fines (taxes) and spurriers found themselves taxed out of the town and it discouraged trained spurriers from elsewhere in coming to Ripon. He notes that the City of York had changed the name of Old Coney Street to Spurriergate in C17th, but this change happened in 1538, well before Ripon corporation with its taxing powers existed.

Alderman John Terry died in 1798 age 90 and was the last of the Ripon spurriers according to Heslington. He had been Mayor three times and had seen the industry in its heyday and watched its decline. The trade moved to towns like Sheffield which had easy access to cheap coal and iron. The manufacture of plated goods in Sheffield started in 1753 and handsome silver plated spurs gradually drove Ripon spurs out of the market.

Ripon spurriers never became wealthy but were content with the comfortable livelihood for themselves and the few artisans in their employment. So there are no monuments or grand estates. Some are remembered in the City's archives and their fame is remembered in the City's crest and in the mottos;

"As true steel as a Ripon rowel" proverb referring to a person of integrity, totally honest and reliable.

"The best spurs are made in Ripon" Thomas Fuller C17th writer

"Why, there's an angel, if my spurs Be not right Ripon" Ben Johnson

What became of the spurriers?

The first census to list the work of the people of Ripon was in 1851. In that year no spurriers are recorded but 41 men in Ripon were listed as either blacksmiths or whitesmiths. A whitesmith is a traditional metalworker who either works with light coloured or white metals (like tin, pewter, or silver) or specialises in the finishing, filing and polishing of iron and steel. Spurriers and their descendents who wished to continue their craft as individual traders may well be among these men. They were living on the streets surrounding Ripon town centre, but most were in North Street (7), Allhallowgate (8), Stammergate (4) , Blossomgate (4 in one family) and Bondgate (4). Only one name listed by Heslington from the Ripon corporation minutes appears in the 1851 census list of Smiths, that of Terry, living on North Street.

In Northern Europe riders adopted simpler, more functional designs of spurs, shifting away from the heavily embellished and ostentaious spurs of earlier times. More importantly, the C18th saw the end of the traditional guilds which protected the spurriers from competition. As technology advanced the master spurriers were challenged by early mass production techniques, moving the craft from the individual smithy to the factory in larger towns such as Sheffield which had easier access to the raw materials needed.