Since 1984, reused as the central supporting element of an altar in the Chapel of the Resurrection.

Found during the installation of a central heating system in 1930. This revealed, inter alia, that the crypt structure lay between two lengths of foundation, 9–10 ft (2.75–3 m) wide, running east–west on the line of the choir. A substantial stone drum was incorporated into each length. One of limestone on the south side could not be removed, but that on the north, of a different stone, was removed and stood for many years in the Consistory Court at the west end of the north aisle (Peers 1931, 114; Jones, W. 1934, 74–5, pl. facing 75; Bailey 1991, 11; Hall 1995, 25, pl. IA).

St Peter and St Wilfrid

Visible surfaces good

The drum as it now stands narrows from top to bottom in four plain horizontal bands (fasciae), each one stepped in from the one above. Underneath there is a shallow outer rim, about 10 cm (4 in) wide around its circumference within which the surface is cut back. The present setting does not permit examination of either upper or lower surface, so it is not known if there any holes, such as Lewis or cramp holes, which could prove an origin in Roman work.

Similar pieces were found reused in an eleventh-century or earlier context at St Mary Castlegate, York (Hall 1975b, 19–21, figs. on 20–1; Wenham et al. 1987, 153, pl. XXVIII; Hall 1995, 25). There it was noted that while there were cramp holes, Lewis holes and sockets on these examples (which indicated a previous use in the Roman period), the treatment of the sides was clearly secondary, and unlikely to be Roman (Lang 1991, 117, ills. 413–15); and that apart from Ripon the closest parallels were from St Mary's, Reculver, Kent. These pieces are now in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral but an early drawing shows them in situ in the church before it was demolished, as capitals of columns supporting the arcade between the nave and the chancel (Tweddle et al. 1995, 163, ill. 127). Blagg (1981, 52) showed that these were similar in design and concept to the impost block placed above the capital initially in fifth-century churches around the Mediterranean, in order to expand the bearing surface of the capital beneath the springing of an arch. He suggested that this technique was among those brought by the missionaries who first restored the tradition of building in stone, with columns and arches, from the late sixth century. The visible drum at Ripon is so like these pieces it would appear to have fulfilled the same function. Wilfrid's biographer Eddius Stephanus records his building of the cathedral at Ripon as a church of dressed stone with various columns ('variis columnis': Colgrave 1927, 36–7, ch. 17). It is possible that the two drums from Ripon, including the one removed from the crypt and reused as an altar base, were in fact capitals, or impost blocks, from these columns. Such stepped capitals appear supporting architectural arched frames on Collingham 1, Dewsbury 3, Dewsbury 4, and Otley 1 (Ills. 167, 196–7, 198–200, 564), and there are numerous examples in manuscript paintings — the canon tables of the Lindisfarne Gospels, for example (Alexander 1978, ill. 32).

Seventh to early eighth century

Peers 1931, 114, fig. 2; Jones, W. 1934, 74, 75, pl. facing 75; Pevsner 1959, 410; Taylor, H. M. and Taylor, J. 1965, I, 517, 518; Cramp 1986, 101; Wenham et al. 1987, 153, pl. XXIX a–b; Bailey 1991, 11; Lang 1991, 117; Cramp 1992, 290; Bailey 1993, 10, fig. 8; Hall 1995, 25, pls. IA, IIA–B; Tweddle et al. 1995, 32, 122, 163; Bailey 1996a, 30; Bailey 1996b, 12

[1] The following are general references to the Ripon stones: Allen 1890, 293; Collingwood 1932, 48; Brown 1937, 95; Mee 1941, 306; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 16; Lang 1991, 17, 84; Hall 1995, 15; Hadley 2000a, 235.