RIPON, a considerable borough and market town of England in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It stands on a rising ground, between the rivers Ure and Skcll, near their junction. The streets are ar ranged in the form of a square, the larger ones form ing the outside of the square, and the smaller streets intersect the middle of it. The market place forms a very handsome square, and is adorned with an obelisk ninety feet high. Many of the houses are old, but they are in general well built. The collegiate church of Ripon is a large and venerable edifice, exhibit ing various changes from the Saxon to the Gothic style.
It has the form of a cross, and has at the west end two uniform towers, each 110 feet high, with the great tower of St. Wilfrid in the centre, of the same height. There was formerly a wooden spire upon each of these towers 120 Icet high, but they were demolished in 1660, by the fall of the steeple of St. Wilfrid's. This church has been greatly improved and embellished by Dr. Wad dilove, the dean of Ripon. In one of the crypts of the church there is a sort of catacomb filled with great numbers of skulls and other bones, which have been gradually collected from the churchyard The town-hall, erected in 1801 by Mrs. Allanson, of
Studley royal, is a very handsome building, standing in the market-place. The other public buildings and es tablishments are a free grammar-school, erected in 1553, a public dispensary, a school of industry, 4 hos pitals, and a new theatre opened in 1972.
The manufactories of Ripon were formerly woollen cloth and skins ; but hod, of them have declined. Two cotton mills have been erected ; and the trade of the town is facilitated by a canal about 22 miles long, from the town to the river Ure. Ripon is governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four assist ants. It sends two members to parliament, who are chosen by about two hundred electors. Over the river The number of vessels which arrived arc between 1000 and 1100 annually, and those which cleared out, from 900 to 1000. Population about 36,000 East long. 7' 45',and North lat. 56° 5' 1". See Coxes Tray( Is in Russia, Poland, &c. vol. ii. p. ; Chatteau Calleville's Tableau de la infer Balliqu,, tom. ii. p. 306-308; Muller, Sammluegerzur RussiNcher apschicht, vol. ix.; and Wiedon Beschreihung der Slot Riga.