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BEAUTY SPOTS OF RIPON

MetadataFramesRelated records
Metadata

WORK ID: YFA 1 (Master Record)

TitleYearDate
BEAUTY SPOTS OF RIPON1922 1922-01-01
Details Original Format: 16mm
Colour: Black & White
Sound: Silent
Duration: 19 mins 47 secs

Subject: Travel
Transport
Sport
Railways



Summary
A short film made to promote Ripon, a Cathedral city on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, as a tourist destination.
Description
A short film made to promote Ripon, a Cathedral city on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, as a tourist destination. After the titles, the River Ure and Sharow Lane are shown, with a horse and cart carrying bales of hay, from the railway bridge, followed by the railway station and North Bridge. There are scenes showing boating on the River Ure, swimming, views of bathing huts and people playing tennis. We see people coming out of the Pump Rooms, the exterior of the Spa Baths, the Spa Gardens...
A short film made to promote Ripon, a Cathedral city on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, as a tourist destination. After the titles, the River Ure and Sharow Lane are shown, with a horse and cart carrying bales of hay, from the railway bridge, followed by the railway station and North Bridge. There are scenes showing boating on the River Ure, swimming, views of bathing huts and people playing tennis. We see people coming out of the Pump Rooms, the exterior of the Spa Baths, the Spa Gardens and the Spa Hotel.  A panoramic view from one of the Cathedral towers shows the Market Square, Water Skellgate, Bondgate, Kirkgate, High St, Agnesgate, and the rooftops and chimmneys of the local varnish factories. The film then moves to the west front of the Cathedral, and Thorpe Prebend House, before the film moves to Fountains Abbey where there are general views of the Abbey, Huby's Tower and Studley Park. The film then shows Hackfall Woods and Mowbray Point, near the village of Grewelthorpe and then returns to Ripon Market Square where we see the Town Hall, the Obelisk, the Unicorn Hotel and the cabman's shelter. The film ends with views of the Ripon Hornblower and Sergeant at Mace.  
Context
Preserved historic monuments, landscape and traditions stand cheek by jowl with fashions that haven’t survived the rapid changes of the twentieth century.  Here we see swimmers in woolly costumes using bathing huts on the River Ure, and women playing tennis in long skirts, alongside a tour of historic buildings in and around Ripon as they were in 1922, finished off with the Sergeant at Mace and the Ripon Hornblower keeping a watchful eye out for troublemakers. The film is a good example of...
Preserved historic monuments, landscape and traditions stand cheek by jowl with fashions that haven’t survived the rapid changes of the twentieth century.  Here we see swimmers in woolly costumes using bathing huts on the River Ure, and women playing tennis in long skirts, alongside a tour of historic buildings in and around Ripon as they were in 1922, finished off with the Sergeant at Mace and the Ripon Hornblower keeping a watchful eye out for troublemakers.

The film is a good example of an early example of a tourist film, showing Ripon and historic buildings in the area.  Certainly after the First World War, US tourists in particular were doing the rounds of British cathedrals.  The famous German Baedeker guides to Britain, going back to 1887, had recently acquired an English editor during the First World War.  However, the scenes of bathers and the view over Ripon suggest it may just be a home movie.  The Ripon Hornblower hasn’t missed a single night of blowing his horn at the Obelisk since Alfred the Great.  The railway station is still standing, more or less, although it hasn’t seen a train since 1967.
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