RIPON CIVIC SOCIETY

NEWSLETTERSpring 2010

for the protection of exceptionalworks of architecture. WMF inBritain is the largest office outsidethe Fund�s New York HQ.

Jonathan was formerly assistantsurveyor of Canterbury Cathedral,and then Buildings Curator atHampton Court Palace and KewPalace. He has taught at theUniversity of Cambridge and he lec-tures widely around the world.

Please come along and hear himtalk about some of the North�s greatest public buildings of the 19thcentury, including the Town Halls inLeeds (below), Halifax and Manchester.

Tickets for the illustrated talk,which takes place at 7.30 pm inHoly Trinity Church, KirkbyRoad, Ripon, are £8 for Ripon CivicSociety members and £10 for non-members.They are avail-able by send-ing a stamped,addressedenvelope anda chequemade payableto �RiponCivic Society�to RCS 2010,Victoria Villa,Princess Road,Ripon HG41HW.

Here�s an important date foryour diary! On Friday 11 JuneRipon Civic Society is hostinganother celebrity talk, following thesuccess of the talk by Dr SimonThurley of English Heritage in our40th birthday year.

We are very pleased that DrJonathan Foyle (above), ChiefExecutive of the World MonumentsFund, Britain, has accepted our invitation to speak.

His subject will be 'Palaces for thePeople - the Victorian Town Halls ofNorthern England' - that he is currently filming for a BBC4 documentary on the subject.

Jonathan Foyle is an architecturalhistorian who appears regularly ontelevision in Time Team, The HouseDetectives and Meet the Ancestors.

The World Monuments Fund(WMF) is the leading organisation

TV HISTORIAN TO TALKon some of the North�s great public buildings

The Society�s membership feeshave not changed for some years,although, of course, costs have risen.

Our enhanced payments to ournew national body, Civic Voice, andalso to the Yorkshire and HumberAssociation of Civic Societies (seepage 4-5) mean that your executivecommittee has decided, reluctantly,to increase members' annual sub-scriptions to Ripon Civic Society(effective from 2011) from £10 to£12 for single members and from£15 to £18 for dual members. Theamounts paid by 19 - 25-year-olds,patrons and corporate members willremain the same.

We hope that you will agree thatthis is still exceptional value: eighttalks, an awards ceremony and threenewsletters a year, not to mention allthe other considerable work thatgoes on behind the scenes by com-mittee members, are, we think,worth every penny of £12.

Up a little . . .

Ripon Civic Society is a Registered Charity, No: 517434

WHO�S WHOPRESIDENT Mr Barrie Price

VICE PRESIDENTS Dr WA ForsterRt Hon JE RamsdenMrs D TaylorMr MH Taylor

CHAIRMAN David Winpenny 608320

VICE CHAIRMAN Nigel Rawlinson 603322

Hon SECRETARY Sheila Winpenny 608320

Hon TREASURER Keith Surman 605055

COMMITTEE:Daphne Allan (Visits) 603881Andrew Curtis (Photography) 600731Elizabeth Barron (Walks) 605101 Diana Howard (Programme) 01677 470950Kneale Pearce (Corporates) 604838Joan Rosher (Membership) 603268Christopher Tunnard (Plaques) 600389Graham Turner (Planning 01423 323112Susan Wordsworth (Programme) 609723

CORPORATE MEMBERS:

Practice Members, North House SurgeryHutchinson & Buchanan, SolicitorsEura Audit UK,AccountantsSkipton Building SocietyThe Ripon Spa HotelLow Lindrick FarmsPeters Associates

PATRON MEMBERS

Mr B Carroll & Mrs F CarrollMr DM McFarlaneMr & Mrs R Smith Mr W Kinread

website: www.riponcivicsociety.org.uk e-mail: info@riponcivicsociety.org.uk

RIPONCIVICSOCIETY

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Out and about

The Cabmen's Shelter sagatook a dramatic turn, when,despite RCS member StanleyMackintosh's offer to repair and re-paint the shelter, Ripon City Councilfinally decided to put the work ofrestoring it out to tender. HarrogateBorough Council's (HBC) conserva-tion officers will assess the tendersand will advise the city council. HBCwill then offer grant aid for the work- something that would not havebeen possible before the CivicSociety had the structure listed.

We understand that the shelterwill soon be temporarily removedfrom the Square for repair. We havebeen assured that the work shouldbe completed by the summer; welook forward seeing it back in placeand restored to its former glory. Wealso hope that from now on therewill be a regular (ie at least annual)programme of maintenance put inplace.

Restorationdrama!

PLACING PLAQUESWe have ordered two new plaques.

One is for Clova House, the for-mer home of Charles Piazzi Smyth inClotherholme Road. Smyth (left, dur-

ing his time in Ripon),was AstronomerRoyal for Scotlandand a pioneer in astronomy, spec-troscopy,climatology and pho-tography, who, withhis wife Jessie,explored, measuredand photographed

the Great Pyramid ofEgypt. They are buried togetherunder a little pyramid in Sharowchurchyard.

Theother is forthe CanalBasin,designedby engi-neer JohnSmeatonand a significant place in theBritish canal network. Long neglect-ed, following its recent restoration itis now a very pleasant and popularcorner of Ripon.

The plaques are being made byLeander Architectural, a Derbyshirecompany that has made and restoredall our plaques and has a nationalreputation for its specialised work -the National Trust, English Heritageand many local councils have plaquesand signage made by Leander.

In the last newsletter we men-tioned that we were organisingtwo visits this year.

On WEDNESDAY 9 MAY, wego to Helmsley to see the WalledGarden and the English HeritageStore (numbers limited at the latter).This visit is by car.

Then onSATURDAY 3JULY we go fur-ther afield, bycoach, toGrantham andHarlaxton Manor.Don�t miss this rareopportunity to seeHarlaxton - it�s onlyopen to groups, soyou won�t get thereby yourself! Thereference bookswax lyrical: �OnlyVanbrugh andBlenheim bear com-parison�; �One of themost exuberant ofVictorian Houses�(the house was built between 1831and 1837); � the staircase (above) is . . .a fantasy rivalling the most extrava-gant and theatrical achievements ofBaroque Italy�; �a distinct and un-forgettable monument of theVictorian imagination at its greatestpitch of intensity�.

If you are interested in going oneither or both of the visits, pleaseread the full descriptions and com-plete the application form inserted inthis newsletter. Closing date: Friday30 April - or when numbers becomeexcessive!

Please come along to our talks -not just to learn about all sortsof subjects, but also to meetyour fellow-members!Our meetings (except the AwardsEvening in October) are held at 7.30pm in Allhallowgate Church Hall,

near the bus station.They are free tomembers and only£2.00 for non-mem-bers, so bring yourfriends, too!MEETINGS:

Thursday 8 AprilNicholas Hawksmoor,architect - Dr Ann-Marie Akehurst Thursday 6 MayHistory of WalledGardens (including Helmsley (see left)- Barbara HickmanThursday 2 September The WensleydaleRailway - Ruth Annison

Thursday 7 OctoberAwards Evening, Spa Hotel.

After much investigation and delib-eration we are making progresswith a design for a public fountain ina corner of the Marshall Way carpark, adjacent to the road. We aretaking the design to a local fabrica-tor who specialises in stainless steelto see if it is feasible and to ascer-tain the cost.

GRAND DESIGN

Coming up . . .

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again during the 1939-45 war, butsince then it has been maintained bythe army, mostly for use by RoyalEngineers Regiments.

The huts are of different types; themost architecturally-distinguished (ofwhich there are at least seven: it is,inevitably, difficult to obtain access tothe camp to ascertain exact num-

bers) aresubstantial,with veran-das. Thecanopies areglazed, andthere is arow of lightsin the roofsof some ofthe huts.Most of thehuts retaintheir multi-

paned windows.There is some urgency to the

application because this part of thebarracks is soon to be removed fromArmy use and is likely to be sold off.As far as we are aware there is noprotection for the huts: that means

that a subsequent purchasercould demolish them.

As a rare survivor ofWorld War I and one of thelast reminders of the impor-tant Ripon Camp, the hutsdeserve protection, and wehope that English Heritagewill consider them for spot-listing to give them immedi-ate protection.

An application has been madeto English Heritage for listinga number of World War I hutsat Deverell Barracks, the onlysurviving builidings of the huge WorldWar I army camp that surroundedmuch of Ripon from 1915 to about1919 - the subject of the Society'stalk in January by Alan Skidmore.

DuringWorld War1 RiponCamp wasone of themain cen-tres forthe organi-sation oftroopsbeing sentto andreturningfrom the Front. At its height itaccommodated more than 30,000soldiers, completely dominating thecity, whose population at that timewas around 7,000.

Many memoirs of soldiers fromthe period detail their time in RiponCamp. Among the most notable ofthose to pass through wasthe poet Wilfred Owen (left),who wrote some of his mostmemorable poems, includingThe Send-Off , Mental Casesand Futility while stationed inRipon.

After World War 1 thecamp was reduced in size,particularly to the south. Itcame into prominence

HISTORIC HUTSA series of attractive leaflets featur-ing walks in and around Ripon willsoon be published by Ripon CivicSociety, in conjunction with the localbranch of the Ramblers Association.It's envisaged that they will be avail-able either separately or together ina folder and will be on sale in variousoutlets in the city.The walks will be of varying lengths.Some will be accessible to wheel-chairs and pushchairs. They are allquite distinctive, whether it's the his-toric city-centre, river- or canal-sidepaths or a longer route to FountainsAbbey - ideal both for visitors toRipon and for any of us

who wanta bit ofexercisewhen thesun isshining!

Get walking! JOIN THE FOLK INTHE WORKHOUSE

Ripon Civic Society membersare invited to join RiponHistorical Society on a visit tothe Workhouse Museum onWednesday 9 June.

The evening starts at 7.30pm in thenewly-refurbished Guardian's Room.Anthony Chadwick, the Museum'sSenior Curator, will give a short intro-duction before a full guided tour.

The Local Studies Centre, housedat the Museum, will also be open, sothat we can see it in the context ofthe building, and discover what it canoffer. At the end of the visit lightrefreshments will be served; there willbe a collection to cover costs.

So that the Museum knows thequantity of victuals required, pleasecall 01765 608320 by 4 June to let usknow that you intend to join the visit.

The Ripon Museums have a fascinating programme of events and activities through-out the year. Pick up their new leaflet for full details.

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Since the collapse of the CivicTrust last year, a new organisa-tion, with the interim name ofthe Civic SocietiesInitiativehas been working to provide the national voicefor civic societies that theTrust had previouslyoffered. The organisationwill be launched on 17April with a new name.

It will be, officially, CivicVoice; it will be the nationalsupport for individual soci-eties, helping with problemsand lobbying government.

At a meeting of ourExecutive Committee on 3March it was decided thatRipon Civic Society shouldjoin Civic Voice; the subscrip-tion to the new body - basedon a levy of £1.50 per mem-ber - means that any civicsociety can have insurance,including trustee liability insur-ance, at an advantageous rate.Our first payment has beenmade already, so that we canbenefit from an introductory reduc-tion in the amount.

The Yorkshire and HumberAssociation of Civic Societies(YHACS), which used to be

funded by the CivicTrust, has had to sur-vive independentlysince the Trust'sdemise. It will contin-ue to be self-support-ing and so it hasasked all civic soci-eties within its regionto pay an annual sub-scription - £40 in2010. Ripon CivicSociety believes thatthere is an impor-tant role to beplayed by as manyof the region�sCivic Societies aspossible comingtogether to pur-sue commonaims. We havetherefore paidour YHACSsubscription.

Like thenational body YHACS offersassistance to civic societies bythe way of information, support and

YHACS' Civic Societies �Week� thisyear can take place between 29th Mayand 4th July. The aim is to encourageprojects or activities that will help toraise the profile of civic societieswithin their local communities. It isan opportunity to showcase the workand activities of each society to awider audience under the umbrella ofa regionally-led campaign.

In 2008 Ripon Civic Society was commended for its city-centre sur-vey of public opinion about Riponand came third in 2009 for theMarquess of Ripon commemoration(below). This year the CelebrityLecture on Friday, 11 June will be ourspecial event (see page 1).

facilitating networking.It also participates in the growing

regional agenda on behalf of the civicsociety movement, speaking for theviews of these groups in their mis-sion to represent their communities.

The Annual General Meeting ofYHACS was held on Saturday 30January at the White Hart Hotel inHarrogate. About 50 members andguests representing 25 Yorkshire andHumber societies attended and

heard guest

speaker Tony Burton,Director of the Civic SocietyInitiative, outline progress with theInitiative over the previous fewmonths and his view of the future ofthe civic society movement, as wellas answering questions about therelationship between local societiesand the national body.

A National Voice . . .

. . . and a Regional Voicefor Civic Societies

PLANS for 2010CIVIC SOCIETIES�WEEK

A Free Gift for Ripon Civic Society Members!Now that RCS is a member of Civic Voice, each member of the Society is entitledto a free one-day pass from the National Trust. If you are an NT member you cangive it to someone who is not! After 17 April you will be able to download yourpass from the Civic Voice website (when we receive the address we�ll e-mail it tomembers whose e-mail addresses we have). You can also write, enclosing astamped, addressed envelope and quoting �Ripon Civic Society� to Civic Voice, Unit101, 82 Wood Street,The Tea Factory, Liverpool L1 4QD.