§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what records they have of the granting of city status to Ripon.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Glenarthur)My Lords, the Home Office has records of the granting of city status to the parish of Ripon by Her Majesty the Queen on 1st April 1974 following the abolition of the municipal borough of Ripon under the Local Government Act 1972. This grant enabled Ripon to preserve its prerogative title of city.
§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply. May I ask whether he will persuade the authorities to make those and other authentic historical facts more easily available to tourists? Because of the charter celebrations going on in that district, tourists are becoming increasingly interested in the area—which, as a Yorkshirewoman, I know well has a special charm.
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, I well appreciate my noble friend's interest in and concern for Yorkshire. I do not think it is really something in which the Home Office has much locus, but I will certainly pass on my noble friend's remarks to those who have an interest in the matter.
§ Lord Mowbray and StourtonMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that, in addition to what my noble friend Lady Lane-Fox has said, it is the capital of a thriving part of Yorkshire for the farming industry, with monasteries all round, and that it has been a cathedral city since the early twelfth century?
§ Lord GlenarthurYes, my Lords. As I understand it, Ripon was first incorporated 1100 years ago, in 886, but it was not until 1836 that the style "city" was assumed when the collegiate church became a cathedral and Ripon the seat of a bishopric.