Harrogate and the surrounding vicinity

The 88^th Annual Conference for Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland was held at Harrogate.  The first ever Conference of the then British Association of Rotary Clubs choose Harrogate as its inaugural venue in 1920 and the only other conference held there was in 1928 so it was a long overdue visit to North Yorkshire.

I’d not been to a RIBI Conference before, but wanting to make the most of the opportunities my presidential year has afforded me, I booked.  I also had happy memories of previous conferences to Harrogate and this gave me an added incentive to go.

The one previous time I attended Harrogate International Conference Centre was for a Salvation Army Congress weekend.  That weekend was probably the last ‘religious’ high movement I experienced before I left the ministry and my faith took a big knock. 

As I entered the auditorium for the first session, I experienced a flashback to the last time I was in that room.  It had a special time, my personal journey since then has been quite hard and emotional in places, and I did shed a tear or two.

Outside of the Conference, I explored the local vicinity.  Harrogate itself is renowned as a Spa Town with many fine examples of Georgian architecture.

I like to visit places ‘off of the beaten track’ to coin a phrase and spent a couple of hours nearby in a village called Ripley.  This caught my attention because not far from Hucknall is a Derbyshire town bearing the same name.  This Ripley is probably best known for the manufacture of the ‘World-famous Ripley Ice Cream.’  Although it was cold for April I did see people purchasing and eating some.

In the Churchyard was a Grade II listed monument called ‘The Weeping Cross.’ Its origins is unknown but it is thought to have been used by pilgrims and penitents and so has ‘kneeholes’ so that devotes could kneel in prayer at the foot of a cross embedded in stone.  There are no other crosses like it known in England.

The church itself had some interesting features including memorials for the Ingilby family.  Sir Thomas Ingilby was knighted by Edward III after saving the King’s life from a wild boar.  Wild boars  are featured all over the village ( fortunately, there were none at the RIBI conference in Harrogate!).  Sir William Ingilby entertained James I on his journey to London to ascend to the English throne.  During this period of history, the Ingliby family were linked with the failed Gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes.  Sir William Ingilby’s funeral pennants still hang in the church to this day.  His namesake, another Sir William Ingilby, had been a priest before he inherited the castle and was opposed to alcohol consumption on the Sabbath.  When, in 1919, he ordered that all 3 village landlords close their hostelries on Sundays, they decided to move away as the Sabbath was their most lucrative day.  Ripley was a ‘dry’ village until 1990 when the Ingilby family opened ‘The Boar’s Head Hotel.’

At the centre of this village is Ripley Castle which has been the home of the Ingilby family for 700 years.  The church also bears several interesting features.  A nineteenth century Ingilby tore down the old village, rebuilt it modelling if after an Alsatian village with a hotel de ville style town hall. The castle and the church were not affected by the reconstruction.

As you can tell, this village made quite an impression on me. 

I also visited Ripon the oldest city in England (and fourth smallest city).  The huge cathedral dominates this market town.  I was interested to learn of the tradition of the Wakeman which has carried on unbroken for 900 years until today.  The Wakeman was the official keeper of law and order in Ripon.  This tradition is celebration every night at 9 o’clock when the Wakeman sounds his horn to show that he is on duty and watching over the citizens of Ripon.