The Liberty of Ripon or Riponshire was a

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

possessing separate county jurisdiction, although situated within the county of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England. The liberty was under the jurisdiction of the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

, a privilege claimed to have been granted by King Aethelstan in the 10th century. The liberty was governed by a high steward and justices of the peace, appointed by the archbishop, and the area had separate

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

, in conjunction with the mayor and recorder of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

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 ...

, in whose town hall they were held. In 1831 the following parishes and townships (locally in the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and West Ridings of Yorkshire) were in the liberty: *Most of

* Felixkirk *

Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the A170 at the foot of Sutton Bank, about three miles ...

Kilburn, North Yorkshire Kilburn is a village in the civil parish of Kilburn High and Low, in the Hambleton District in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the edge of the North York Moors National Park, and north of Easingwold. History The vill ...

Nidd Nidd is a small village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. The population of the village taken at the 2011 census was 168. It is situated 3 miles north of Harrogate, east of Ripley on the B6165 Patel ...

with

Killinghall Killinghall is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. The civil parish population taken at the 2011 census was 4,132. The village is situated approximately north of Harrogate, extending south from ...

* Marton-cum-Moxby In 1836 the temporal jurisdiction of the archbishop was ended, with the power to appoint justices revested in the crown, and in 1837 the townships locally in the North Riding were removed from the liberty. In 1889, the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

came into operation. Section 48 of the Act merged "every liberty and franchise of a county" into its surrounding

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

. While this was the end of the liberty's administrative functions, separate quarter sessions continued until 1953, and it was also a distinct unit for land tax purposes for some time.

References

History of Ripon History of North Yorkshire

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