Lewis Carroll’s Ripon

Author: Maurice Taylor
Price: £10
Publisher: Maurice Taylor
Edition: 1st edition
Publication Date: 1998
Format: Original wrappers
Condition: Very good

Description: Octavo. Original printed wrappers. pp. 16. A well-illustrated account. A little creased and rubbed. A very good copy. Location: OSR

Lewis Carroll’s Ripon: A Brief History

Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is best known as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, as well as for his work in mathematics and photography. Although he is most closely associated with Oxford, Carroll had a significant and often overlooked connection to the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire—a place that quietly shaped elements of his imagination and literary work.

Carroll’s connection to Ripon was through his father, the Reverend Charles Dodgson, who was appointed a canon of Ripon Cathedral in the mid-19th century. As a result, the family frequently visited the city, and Carroll spent extended periods there during his youth and early adulthood. He stayed at the Deanery and the Cathedral Close, both of which were closely tied to the ecclesiastical life of the city and provided an environment of solemn beauty and intellectual influence.

During his time in Ripon, Carroll attended services and events at the cathedral, and the building’s rich Gothic architecture, carved misericords, and tranquil cloisters made a lasting impression. The quiet rhythms of Ripon’s religious life, combined with its atmospheric setting and historical surroundings, are thought to have inspired elements of his later creative work. While the extent of Ripon’s influence remains a matter of interpretation, certain motifs—such as talking animals, ecclesiastical figures, and playfully distorted authority—can be seen as drawing on the structured yet eccentric world of cathedral life.

Carroll was a keen observer of both people and places, and his time in Ripon provided ample opportunity for both. The city’s blend of medieval heritage and Victorian order may have appealed to his taste for contrast and paradox. Moreover, Ripon’s traditional ceremonies, such as the daily blowing of the Wakeman’s Horn in the Market Square, could well have sparked Carroll’s interest in ritual and performance—recurring themes throughout his writing.

In addition to his literary interests, Carroll was a mathematician with a sharp, logical mind. Ripon, with its quietude and scholarly atmosphere, may have offered him a retreat from the bustling academic life of Oxford, allowing time for reflection, composition, and artistic exploration. It is believed that some of his early writings and diary entries were penned during his stays in the city.

Today, Ripon honours its connection to Lewis Carroll not with grandeur, but with quiet recognition of the role it played in shaping the formative experiences of one of England’s most imaginative writers. While Carroll’s time in the city was episodic rather than permanent, the influence of Ripon’s cathedral life, symbolism, and surroundings continues to echo in the fantastical and layered worlds he created.

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