Friday, February 1, 2013

Ripon Cathedral Part II Anglophile Friday

 The east end of Ripon Cathedral

In case you didn't see last week's Anglophile Friday, it was, obviously, Ripon Cathedral, Part I.

This week I have a few more photos I'd like to share with you, a few of which are of that interesting pipe organ.

 Will someone give me a hand?

If you look very closely toward the bottom of the photo above, you will see a hand protruding from the wood organ case. What is that doing there?


 Ah yes, now I can see it better

Flanked by angels, the wooden hand is the 'choir director' which is guided by the organist. Cool, huh! (if not a little creepy)


From RiponCathedral.org.uk:

'The first reference to an organ in Ripon Cathedral occurs in the Fabric Rolls for 1399. The present-day, four-manual organ contains two ranks from a 1690 organ. 

'Its history really begins, however, in 1878, when it was almost entirely built from scratch by T. C. Lewis of Brixton. Costing the grand sum of £4,000 without the case, this organ was undoubtedly one of the finest of its day.

'By 1912, however, it required extensive rebuilding: the stops were too loud and an appalling noise was issuing from the engines and bellows.

'The organ was therefore essentially rebuilt between 1912 and 1926, by Harrison and Harrison of Durham (completion of the work being significantly delayed by the outbreak of the First World War).

'Since then, various additions and modifications have been made to the Ripon Cathedral organ: in 1963, 1972, 1988, 1996 and most recently, 2000. The 1996 additions included the horizontal Solo Orchestral Trumpet and a new eight-channel solid-state combination system...

'Finally, the organ case at Ripon was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. One particularly unusual feature of it is a unique, carved wooden hand.

'This used to be used to conduct the choir, via a lever at the organ console. It was added to the case in 1695, when a rebuild of the organ then meant that the organist had to move to a new seat from where he could not conduct the choir himself.'








 From the Rood Screen


Rood Screen Angels



A sign in the quire read '15th century misericords. Please do not touch.' The misericords are a little ledge on the bottom of the chair where, when the chair is folded up, still provide a slight ledge upon which the monks might rest during long periods of standing. This carving, above, represents a griffin chasing a rabbit down a rabbit hole. When Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll was 20 years old, his father was Canon at Ripon Cathedral. It is thought that the carving (above) may have been inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.


 Spring Flowers


 Viewing the West End of the Cathedral



 ...and a little farther west,
'Double Luck Take Away'

And 'The Knowledge Magnet'
a toy shop


 
 Why didn't I notice 'Ripon Canal' when we were there??
Too much to see, too much to do.
Not enough time.


Final Call


***

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Have a great weekend, everyone!
  
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This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special

21 comments:

  1. Oh, it's so, so gorgeous! And how ingenious to have that hand conducting the choir! And thank you for the gift of the spring flowers - it's 16 degrees out right now, and the wind chill is 3, with more snow showers promised for the entire weekend ... yippee.

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  2. I'll admit, at first I thought the hand was a little creepy! lol But the explanation made me feel much better :) It's a breathtaking architectural phenomenon!

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  3. What a stunning church! Thanks for sharing Ripon Cathedral with me, enjoyed it.

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  4. Judy this may be my favorite post so far.
    These photos are absolutely breathtaking - have to pin some of them!!!'
    Have a wonderful wknd,
    Hugs,
    Suzan

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  5. you already know i think that cathedral is awesome. yes, the hand is creepy... it is a stunning building. but be still my heart over those narrow street shots.. i would so love to walk down those streets. i have seen them in movies and photos and on blogs, but never seen a real one. i know there are some here in USA but not easy access for me.

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  6. Beautiful pictures as usual, thanks for sharing.

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  7. Once again: WOW! And how do they ever clean those pipes??

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  8. Wow! That pipe organ is beautiful! And yes, I'm thinking the hand is a little creepy, too. Have a great weekend, Judy!

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  9. Sometimes pictures of England make my heart hurt. I think I might have been born on the wrong continent.

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  10. Those are fantastic shots! Thank you for sharing them on Photo Friday! Have a great weekend!

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  11. They don't build churches like they used too - I don't know if they could - if the craftsmanship is still alive that could do that. I can tell you that pipe organ was $$$ even back then. A lot of money went into it - but back then that was what people valued...

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  12. Lol! I couldn't find the hand at first and didn't see you also had a close up of it! Rather ingenious idea really.

    The spring flowers made me swoon too. We are so pathic, you would think we were never going to see spring again! Lol!

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  13. I'm stopping by from Photo Friday blog hop - I just love the phone booth picture......well they are all amazing photos but the phone booth made me smile.
    Thanks
    Angie
    godsgrowinggarden.com

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  14. Hi Judy,

    These pictures are great, and I thought the hand looks cool. Hope you're staying warm there. We're having gusting winds here, and it's really chilly.
    Enjoy your weekend

    Eva

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  15. Stunning stunning workmanship
    Have a great weekend.

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  16. So if it goes to say that "he was a little wooden in his performance today" might come from the hand?

    LOL.

    Jen

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  17. The tour, last Friday's and this, has been lovely. I really can't imagine living in a town where there is something like this to visit or attend services. Now I know what the little ledge looks like on the monks' seats! i've read about that in Rumer Godden's House of Brede but pictured them as being larger. I would love to hear that organ!

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  18. Such a lovely post, thank you for sharing. I work in a Cathedral environment and it's lovely to see other Cathedrals. Will be following you from now on. Take care. Chel

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  19. I so enjoy your blogs and wonderful photos! I always learn something new, so thank you! That pipe organ is absolutely amazing. I would love to have heard it played. Wow.

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  20. What an exquisite pipe organ! Truly beautiful. The church I grew up in had a huge pipe organ and it was built so that you could see the pipes -- but it didn't have a hand!!

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