The Sanctuary Way Walk is a circular walk around the city of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. The walk traces a route around the city and has eight trail points at the places where waymarkers used to designate that travellers were within of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

at Ripon and thus afforded The Sanctuary of Ripon. The waymarker at

Sharow Sharow is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate (borough), Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about north-east of Ripon. The name Sharow derives from the Old English of 'Scearu' and 'Hōh' which translates as boundary ...

is the base of one of the crosses that used to mark the edge of the Sanctuary of Ripon.

History

In 937,Most sources cite 937. However, the waymarkers themselves, list the date as 926 AD (see photograph) as do some other sources. Speight maintains that the Liberty of Wilfrid was granted to the Holy See of York in 937 after Athelstan's victory over the 'Pagan' Danes.

King Athelstan King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

created the Sanctuary of Ripon by placing eight crosses on the roads approaching the city. Some of the crosses were given names; Cross of Athelstan, Kangel Cross and Sharow Cross. The sanctuary was known as the Liberty of St Wilfrid and was maintained by the ecclesiastical body in the city. The boundary waymarkers have all since been removed or destroyed except the remnants of the base of one of the crosses at

, which is now a listed monument. The sanctuary lasted until 1540 when the authorities looking after law and order became secular.

The routes

The path was created in 2004 by the Rotary Club of Ripon and the Rotary Club of Ripon Rowels who designed it as a celebration of the Rotary Club's 100-year anniversary of 2005. There are actually three walks which take two, three and four hours respectively, with each being longer in length than the previous one. *The Red Route runs from Bridge Hewick to the cathedral in Ripon via North Bridge and is listed as being the most scenic part of the route. *The Green Route has the same starting point as the Red Route but ventures further north before turning back by the golf club and finishing at the cathedral. *The Blue Route is the full which starts at Bridge Hewick east of the city and goes in a circular anti-clockwise direction around the city to finish at Gallows Hill just south of the cathedral.

History

The routes

Notes

References

External links