Bartimaeus

Revisiting Ripon, not only had me reprising the long stand at the bus stances and successful purchasing at the pj shop, but also remembering that it had been where we took the bus to Fountains Abbey 12 years ago. We were lucky to get a drier day so, rather than take the bus, it was a chance to take out the tandem and have a ride in the country before exploring the impressive estate. We entered through the deer park and I watched from the back, not needing to look at the tarmac, a spotted fallow deer turn and bounce away from us. Whether nervous of us or a dog walking  past I don’t know, but we were sticking to the mettled path and the dogs around weren’t giving chase either as the signs to keep dogs on a lead was being obeyed.

Many parts of the grounds were familiar: the nave, mill, Georgian water garden and stream and mill brought back memories, but I didn’t recognise the cafe near the mill or the interior of Studley manor house. The cafe had a very fine cream tea. The manor house had a traditional wedding picture, full of flower girls, from over a century ago with the surprise that the groom, not the bride, was called Clare. The name has fallen out of fashion for boys over the last century and 50 years ago was in the top ten names for girls in Scotland.

The monks milled flour, made bread and brewed beer, a lot of beer. The stream was diverted and despite the pretty Georgian water gardens, we did not see any fountains, so can only assume that was a name for a water source since the Boroughbridge fountain is a pump and was a functional water supply for the people, as well as decorative. We sat beside it eating our lunch from the bakery, a traditional pasty for me and a “posh pasty” for Shane. The difference was in the pastry: traditional had flaky, posh had short crust, and the way the filling was chopped – traditional was minced meat and potato and the posh had chunks of meat and veg with gravy; but the ingredients were essentially the same for both. Shane had an Eccles cake too. While we munched on a bench a party of  Boroughbridge primary school children came and sat there and got a history lesson about their town. They were being challenged to guess how old the fountain was, none got as close as the 149 years. 

Rainbow flags adorning the fountain were possibly not part of the tradition over a hundred years ago though on our subsequent walk around the town on the Roman ramble round walk we did see a maypole in the next village, when in action it would have some coloured ribbons. The children were not going to go that far in their history walk but they may have found the outdoor display of old artifacts for home e.g.scrubbing board dolly and tub, farm (e.g.sickles, dairy equipment or trades, like cobblers.

Borough bridge was proud of its heritage and had many signs about the battle of Borough bridge in the 14th century. None of these Boroughbridge exhibits nor the battle went as far back as the tradition we observed in Ripon. 

Since 886AD a wakeman has sounded a horn at 9pm from the market square every single night. We felt we couldn’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this ceremony. We waited in the square and saw that the obelisk there was topped with a horn. A woman with a horn approached and at the appointmed hour blastedit 4times from each corner of the monument. She proceeded to give a short talk to explain the history and changed in how the wakeman was chosen. She is now part of a team of four and the first official woman in the role, though a former wakeman did have his daughters deputise for him when he was unable to perform the ceremony. It is amazing this tradition has been unchanged for over a thousand years. The people and horns have changed but the practice remains unbroken the same as ordained by King Alfred the Great.

While we were checking out Ripon, Jude had returned from collecting our friend Pete and our post, from Edinburgh. Unfortunately Pete had managed to come down with a cold so he was not feeling on top form when we went round to see them the next day. The weather was none too kind either. But at the very end of the afternoon the sun made a reluctant late appearance and we took him for a short cruise. He shared this sunny picture from the front of the boat. It wasniki fisher weather but a heron and cormorant made an appearance.

We then followed another tradition: when having a meal with Peter, he’s going to prefer a curry. The curry house has been recommended by the boaters in Linton, and it was excellent, right down to the after dinner mints which arrived at the table a minute or two before 8pm but we showed respect for tradition and held off until after eight to eat them.