10 things you might not know about life in Ripon for our first students
When the training school moved from York to Ripon, Ripon College was born. A purpose-built space for women to learn how to be teachers, the Ripon of the 1860s was very different to the world of the 1960s when the college celebrated its centenary. But what would life have been like for its first students?
Here are 10 things you might not know, or have considered, about life in Ripon for our first students:
1. Ripon wasn’t a city yet
In 1836, Ripon became its own diocesan when its fantastic parish church was promoted to cathedral status. The local council, following assumptions about cathedrals and cities, began calling Ripon a city. However, it wasn’t until 1865 that the City of Ripon Act officially made Ripon a city! This means that the first students at Ripon lived in a town, rather than city!
Although the act of parliament didn’t magically change Ripon’s amenities, it will have changed the prestige of Ripon’s importance. For Ripon College’s first students, their application to an institution in a town rather than a city might have been a deciding factor for them, and their families. Ripon’s status as a very small city might have later influenced other students to apply too.
2. Students were chaperoned into town
Although not a long or dangerous walk by our standards, Ripon’s first students had a restrictive lifestyle. Students couldn’t visit town without permission and a chaperone. For any student hoping to expand their social horizons, buy personal items or even visit a local friend, being chaperoned must have been a pain!
Although this was done with the students’ best interests at heart, we suspect later Ripon students would have chafed at the restrictions. The chaperoning was to protect the student by keeping them safe, both physically and reputationally.
For the young women who attended Ripon College, there were few opportunities for any social freedom at all. Their daily lives were timetabled and their precious free time often given over to their personal domestic work. As students couldn’t even go into town without a chaperone, it’s likely students were excited to leave, if only for the ability to shop alone!
3. Sunday was for church services
Before the college had built their own chapel, students walked into the centre of Ripon for their weekly church services. But they didn’t just attend one service! Worship was a whole day event where students were expected to attend multiple services, including an afternoon at the cathedral!
Students had to walk to church. Although it’s not a long walk, in winter it would have been a cold one! Students would have left campus in the cold only to arrive at a cold church. For anyone who has attended a Christmas Carol Service and felt a little cold, imagine what it was like before modern central heating systems!
4. Ripon acquired a third horn
Every night, a horn is blown in Ripon at the obelisk and outside the Mayor’s house. This ancient tradition symbolises the setting of the watch. But in 1862 when Ripon College opened, Ripon only had two horns despite using them nightly. Ripon only had the original horn and a slightly ‘newer’ one purchased in 1690! It’s strange to think that for a nightly tradition, Ripon only had one backup horn. But this was to change in 1865 when the Mayor bought another one.
As part of an important local tradition, Ripon’s earliest students will have heard about the newly purchased horn, even if they were never out late enough to see it blown. Perhaps if it was a particularly quiet night, the horn could be heard all the way at Ripon College! Since the market place is only 0.5 miles from the original building, it’s possible that even more recent students heard it’s call beneath the sound of traffic!
Plus, the horn bought in 1865 is the one used on a daily basis today, so today you can literally hear the past!
5. Ripon College was a new build, but it still wasn’t perfect
Ripon College had been purpose built but despite this, it wasn’t quite fit for purpose. The first inspectors mentioned rooms with little storage for students and poor ventilation. Later, the lack of social space was also a problem. For the first students in Ripon, their bedrooms were just as spartan as those left behind in York. Their dismal lack of storage space would also have been a big problem for students with multiple layers to store.
Students also faced a real lack of space to socialise outside of their classrooms and dining hall. Whilst this might not initially have been a problem, as Ripon College expanded, and with it, the idea of what a student teacher’s life should be like, the lack of space to socialise and learn outside the classroom was a real issue.
6. Student or servant?
When Ripon College first opened, its students were taught how to be a teacher, but also how to live within their station. Although many students would already be familiar with domestic work, Ripon’s first students were given specific tasks. These tasks would familiarise students with how they would maintain a classroom, their living arrangements, and eventually, a family home.
Whilst Ripon’s students did the majority of the household labour, including scrubbing the floors, the men at York St John did very little. Although Ripon College did have domestic staff, it was students who helped to maintain the college, rather than celebrating with a barrel of ale from the archbishop.
7. Chocolate was a luxury
For our first Ripon students, chocolate would still have been a bit of a luxury. Rowntree’s was founded in 1862, paving the way for York to become a chocolate city! Meanwhile in Ripon, our first students would have enjoyed trying new confectionary, even if it was a luxury for them. As competition grew for customers and mass production made chocolate cheaper, our students would have enjoyed trying a variety of new items and flavours!
8. Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book was brand new
Today, we’re no stranger to looking for help in online guides, blog posts or self-help books. But in 1861, turning to a book for help wasn’t quite as common. In 1861, Isabella Beeton published her infamous Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. In this how to guide, Beeton provides an extensive guide for running a household. From the duties of butlers and kitchen maids, to detailed recipes and how to maintain a happy household, her book had it all!
Although the book was originally several shorter, serialised sections, our Ripon students would have soon become familiar with its contents! As women, Ripon’s first students would be expected to one day run a household. Even as students at Ripon, they were taught essential household skills alongside their academic studies. For our first students, a handy how-to guide would probably have been a welcome reference when it came to managing a household for the first time with all of its high expectations.
9. Ripon alumni were very generous
The opportunity to gain an education, begin a career and maintain strong personal networks really inspired our earliest alumnae. Reunions were always well attended and fundraising efforts for college equipment, renovations and building work were always enthusiastically undertaken. Many alumna fundraised for commemorative stained glass, plaques and various items for the chapel once it was constructed in memory of other alumni, previous staff members and for decorative purposes.
Today, we still have some of the objects our original alumnae will have seen when they returned for reunions, including the Ripon bell tower, stained glass and the organ!
10. Speedy London to Edinburgh trains began
In 1862, the famous Flying Scotsman’s predecessor, the ‘Special Scotch Express’ began making journeys. Using the East Coast Main Line, the train made the journey between London and Edinburgh much shorter.
The journey took 10.5 hours with a lunch stop in York. This meant that moving between two capitals could be completed within a day. For Ripon’s students, this meant Edinburgh and London were no longer so far away! If they could get to York by lunchtime, they could board the train to either capital and be there by 9pm. Although an expense for students, this will have been an exciting prospect for Ripon’s students with the opportunity to build their cultural capital.
