The church at RiponRipon A cathedral city and market town in North Yorkshire. In the mid-7th century, St Wilfrid (who later became Bishop of York) founded a religious community at Ripon with land granted from the king of Northumbria. Due to Viking incursions, the body of St Cuthbert temporarily resided at Ripon in the 10th century. has been a mother church for the region since the 7th century. The first church on this site was founded as part of a monasteryMonastery The house of a religious community by St Wilfrid in 661, and when it was built in the 670s was one of the earliest large stone buildings in the north of England. St Wilfrid wanted to show the glory of the ChristianChristian Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church to designate all members of the church. faithFaith 1. Belief and trust in someone or something. 2. Acceptance of particular religious teachings. through the splendour of its churches, including Ripon and HexhamHexham St Wilfrid founded an abbey here in Northumbria in 674 dedicated to St Andrew. After the Norman Conquest it was re-established as an Augustinian Priory. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries the church was retained as a parish church. The crypt built by St Wilfrid survives, and brought stonemasons and artists from France and RomeRome This Italian city was the capital of the Roman Empire and, with the primacy accorded to the bishops of Rome (the popes), the centre of the Western Church from the late-Antique period onwards. Rome was not only the administrative centre, but an important source of innovation, relics and liturgy. Missionaries from Rome played an important role in the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England from late 6th century onward. to build impressive Roman-style churches. The cryptCrypt From the Greek kryptós meaning 'hidden' it formed the lower part of the church, where it was often used for burials. remains from this early churchEarly Church Usually applied to the first three centuries of the development of Christianity from the Crucifixion of Christ to c. 325 (the Council of Nicea).. The monastery was raided by the Vikings in c.875 then the church was destroyed during local wars in 948, and left ruined until it was rebuilt in the 970s. Some small fragments of late-9th and early-10th century stone can be seen in the church. The current church dates from a large-scale rebuilding of the 12th century.
References: Taylor and Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, vol. 2, pp. 516-8.