home of Turner, at the time when he was illustrating
Whitaker's _History of Craven_ and _History of Richmondshire_. Whether
this house or its immediately western neighbour were ever prebendal
residences it is now difficult to say.
Two old gabled houses remain in the Market-place, and one of them, now a
basket-shop, is said to have been the residence of Hugh Ripley, last
Wakeman and first Mayor of Ripon.
At the north end of Stonebridgegate, and not far from the Ure, stands
the =Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene=, sometimes called 'The Maudlins.' It
was founded by Archbishop Thurstan (1114-1141) for secular brethren and
sisters, and one chaplain. The brethren and sisters were not merely to
benefit by the charity themselves, but were to minister to lepers and
blind priests born within the Liberty of Ripon, a certain number of whom
were received into the Hospital. Lepers from outside the Liberty were
entitled to a night's lodging: so also apparently were any other
strangers or mendicant clergy who might be passing through the town. On
St. Mary Magdalene's day there was a dole of food to the poor. A second
chaplain was subsequently added by the benefaction of one William de
Homelyn. At some period, apparently after 1241, the character of the
foundation was changed by another Archbishop, whose name is not known.
The brethren and sisters disappeared, and the staff consisted henceforth
of a Master and one chaplain, or sometimes two. The Master was appointed
by the Archbishop, and was generally a clerk, though sometimes only in
acolyte's Orders. In 1334 one John Warrener, of Studley Roger, founded
here a chantry of two if not three priests. Thus there may have been no
less than six clergy attached to this small chapel; but the number was
not kept up, and at the Reformation there were, besides the Master, only
the two priests of Warrener's foundation. The Hospital continued to
minister to blind priests, and also to lepers until leprosy died out.
The lepers' portion of the building was demolished about 1350. In
1546-7 the inmates were 'five poor people.' All traces of the Master's
house, the hall, the brewery, and the original dwellings have vanished.
The dwellings were rebuilt in 1674, and again in 1875, since which date
more cottages have been added, and a new chapel; and the hospital now
accommodates twelve poor women. The Mastership, still in the gift of the
Archbishop, is at present held with one of the canonries, and the cur
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