The Obelisk, the Market Square and the Hornblower
The obelisk is one of three grade I listed buildings in Ripon and is in the centre of the market square.
A view of the obelisk looking across the market square to the south west corner. The obelisk replaced an earlier market cross in 1702, but the artist has retained the old name. The building with the cupola is now occupied by the Yorkshire Building Society, but the cupola has gone. The Wakeman's house is far left but the house next door has been demolished and the site that is now HSBC bank is occupied by cottages.
From a painting by the York artist Jessie Dudley (1872-1930)
The market square on market day (Thursday) looking towards the south west corner of the square, the juction of Westgate and High Skellgate. The town hall is far left.
The artist is Parson(s) Norman (1840-1914). Born in Newington, Surrey, he spent his early life in East London, but moved to Suffolk in 1878 and joined the Ipswich Fine Arts Club. He exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The obelisk was constructed in 1702 as the centre-piece of a newly paved market square. It is 82 feet high and cost £564.11s. 9d. (about £115,000 today) It was the first free standing obelisk in the country and was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor who later designed the obelisk at Castle Howard. Daniel Defoe, in his "Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain", 1724-6, described the completed project as "the finest and most beautiful square that is to be seen of its kind in England."
The aim of the project was to improve Ripon. John Aislabie, Mayor of Ripon and owner of the Studley Royal estate, funded the project and the stone for the obelisk came from his estate. From 1695 he was Ripon's M.P. and became Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was also responsible for designing the landscaped gardens and grounds of Studley Royal which, together with the ruin of Fountains Abbey, is a World Heritage Site.
The market square looking south west. Gas lighting appears to have arrived in Ripon and the buildings appear much as they are today. Not only has the cupola disappeared from the top of the building on the corner (second right) the whole of the top floor has gone.
The metal finial at the top of the obelisk. It incorporates the hornblower's horn and the Ripon spur rowel (the star wheel on the back of a spur which some of us remember from the days of "cowboys and indians" films), Both are symbols of the City. They stand above a Fleur de Lys.
The plaque on the obelisk is an exercise in how not to do it. The inscription says:
MDCCLXXXI (1781)
Erected at the expense of
William Aislabie Esquire
who represented this borough
in parliament sixty years.
The Mayor, Aldermen and Assistants
of Ripon ordered this inscription
MDCCLXXXV (1785)
The Honourable Frederick Robinson
Mayor
The obelisk was erected in 1702 by William's father John Aislabie, at his own expense. He was also an MP for Ripon. William was responsible for the renovation of the obelisk and surrounding structures in the 1780s.
The City coat of arms showing the Ripon rowel on the spur, the horn and the motto which is also inscribed along the top of the town hall.
Artists image of the hornblower standing beside the obelisk in front of the town hall. Artist unknown.
The tradition of the Ripon hornblower goes back to King Alfred the Great who, in the year 884, granted the town of Ripon a Royal Charter and donated a horn which became known as the Charter Horn. Ripon people were living through a period of Viking incursions and, at Alfred's suggestion, appointed a Wakeman to keep watch over the town from dusk till dawn. He announced the start of his watch by blowing the horn at each corner of the obelisk. But over the years the wakeman accumulated powers to tax the population and to employ local people to "police" the town.
King James I, in 1604, issued a new Charter which removed the post of wakeman and replaced it with an elected Mayor. The last wakeman, in fact, became the first mayor. The Mayor appoints a hornblower to continue to announce the start of the watch. The ceremony still continues, but at 9.00pm each day. It was not disrupted by either world war or the covid pandemic (but the horn was blown at the home of the hornblower and not the market square, and shown on Facebook!). There is now a small team of hornblowers, which can include all genders, rather than a single man.
The year 886 (trigger warning; this may not be true!)
The year 1690. Cost 6s.8d or 34p equivalent to £71 today.
Three of the five Ripon horns. An additional horn was donated in 1986 to mark the 1100 years since the first charter. Another horn was bought by the City in 2018 so that each of the team of hornblowers had access to a useable horn.
The year 1886
The Unicorn Hotel
A grade II listed building
The Unicorn Hotel is in the south east corner of the market square. It is possible that the original hotel was the four storey building on the right. Half of the three storey building on the left is a shop (now The Works, but a printer's for many years). The other half is part of the hotel, and signs between the second and third floor windows of both buildings says "Unicorn Hotel". The hotel appears to have been a coaching inn although there is no direct access from the square to the rear of the hotel for the coaches.
The building in the picture (by an unknown artist) is 18th century but parts of the site are older. Their are records of an inn from the 14th century and may have been called the Unicorn in the early 17th century. The buildings to the left of the hotel appear to have been bought in the 1760s to expand the Unicorn.
The entrace to the stables of the Unicorn was from Kirkgate. It is still there and now gives access to the bus station and main car park.