Introduction

Summary

In the summer of 1380, John de Hawkeswick and John de Clynt oversaw the casting of a new bell for Ripon Minster. The minster was a large and ancient church situated above the meeting-point of the rivers Ure and Skell in the north-west part of Yorkshire. Long ago, in the seventh century, a holy man named Wilfrid had driven out Ripon's first group of monks and founded his own new monastery. The original monks followed the customs of the Irish Church, but Wilfrid replaced them with a monastery aligned with Roman customs, loyalty to which was a defining feature of his career. Wilfrid's most famous achievement was to introduce the Roman system for calculating the date of Easter at the Synod of Whitby. Among the many churches that he founded, Ripon was one of Wilfrid's favourites and he was buried there after his death in 710. He then became the posthumous protector of his followers, proving his sanctity through miracles. The archbishops of York had high esteem for Wilfrid, who as bishop of Northumbria was one of their predecessors. They rebuilt the minster in the late twelfth century in order to provide a more suitable architectural setting for his shrine. The seven canons of Ripon, who eventually succeeded Wilfrid's monks, continued to prize his relics until the Reformation under Henry viii.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Ripon was a regionally important ecclesiastical centre and a relatively large market town. It ranked alongside Pontefract, Doncaster, Whitby and Selby, yet still below the leading Yorkshire towns of York, Beverley, Hull and Scarborough. The minster's economic influence was also considerable and extended well beyond the town itself and into the surrounding area. Specialists such as goldsmiths, glaziers and masons resided in Ripon in part because of the minster's demand for their skills. Carpenters, who were the most important category of medieval craftsmen, also found plenty of opportunities to work at the minster. Two of the carpenters who worked on installing the new bell and making its frame in 1380 were from nearby villages: Lawrence Carpenter was listed in the 1379 poll tax as a resident of Skelton, and Richard Wright as a resident of Thornton.