St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church in Ripon has received a £4,000 boost from the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust (YHCT).

The award, which will go towards the restoration of the three altars at the eastern end of its nave and aisles, comes just weeks after the Grade II* listed building was attacked by vandals who damaged leaded windows.

St Wilfrid’s, in Coltsgate Hill, was built in 1862 and is recognised as one of the finest parish churches in England, featuring ornate reredos screens designed by the renowned  Victorian church architect Edward Pugin.

Parishioner Barrie Price, who chairs the restoration appeal, said:

“We were delighted to receive this grant from the YHCT. The church opened its doors over 160 years ago and continues to be a special place for all who visit.

“Preserving this Yorkshire jewel for future generations is a daunting task, but with the help and support from organisations like to the YHCT, and the fundraising efforts of the local community, we are able to undertake the much-needed restoration works.”

Tom Ramsden, chair of the YHCT said:

“As well as being a place of worship, many of Yorkshire’s churches and chapels provide much needed support services to the local community.

“Many parishes face severe challenges in keeping their buildings open and in good repair, but thanks to the generosity of our friends and donors, we are delighted to be able to help preserve these wonderful historic buildings and help secure their future”.

In summer 2021, St Wilfrid’s reopened following the first phase of a £500,000 restoration, which took two years and was held up by the covid 19 pandemic.

The money for the the work was raised by churchgoers, supported by awards from trusts and boosted by a £75,000 grant from Historic England.

In 2022, YHCT awarded £93,000 to 24 places of worship across Yorkshire. Grants continue to be available for urgent repairs, restoration and maintenance to churches of any Christian denomination, including feasibility studies to help churches develop longer term projects.

Bill posters from Harrogate’s Royal Hall show the venue has hosted a surprisingly varied range of performances including boxing, sea lions and even a game of football.

Since opening as The Kursaal in 1903 it has welcomed some of the biggest names in entertainment, including The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and Little Richard.

Other huge names of the 20th century such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Ernest Shackleton also visited to perform lectures in Harrogate.

A collection of bill posters from the Royal Hall’s past are held in its artifacts room. They were collected and donated to the Royal Hall by the late Mike Hine, who was a leading member of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust.

If you’d like to find out more about the history of the Royal Hall, it runs several open days throughout the year.

We’ve included some of Mr Hine’s collection below.

Read more:

• TV architect George Clarke will bring buildings to life at Harrogate’s Royal Hall
• Fashion retailer Jules B to open in Harrogate

The scaffolding that has covered one of Harrogate’s most-loved historical landmarks for almost a year will be coming down from this weekend.

Harrogate Theatre was in need of a huge, £1 million restoration on its roof. The works were initially meant to be completed last September but covid delays and bad weather meant they were only finished last month.

As a council-owned building, the project has been run in conjunction with Harrogate Borough Council and Harrogate Theatre Trust.

Now that additional works to the building on Oxford Street have been completed, Harrogate Borough Council has confirmed the scaffolding will be dismantled from this weekend.

The scaffolding on Oxford Street will come down first with the rest on Cheltenham Parade coming down towards the end of the month.

A council spokesperson said:

“Like any heritage building of this age, the investment project at Harrogate Theatre has been complex and faced a number of challenges. Not least, material and labour shortages – impacted by Covid-19 and isolation requirements – as well as the numerous storms in the last few months.

“During the removal of the scaffolding, final work will take place to re-point brickwork, re-glaze the canopy above the front entrance, along with decoration to the windows and the shop frontages.”

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Tewit Youth Band wins flurry of awards
• The curtain rises for the Ripon Theatre Festival

The renovations haven’t been without their challenges, during stormy weather in November and February the theatre had to close and cancel performances. In November, the theatre had to cancel a full weekend of its pantomime performances due to a leak and again in February, the final performance of Kinky Boots was cancelled after a second leak.

There was also an incident in January where three young teens scaled the roof and caused £800 damage.

Despite all the ongoing works the theatre has continued to stage multiple productions including its annual pantomime.

It is not clear if the delays have caused the £1 million restoration fee to increase.

A Chinese restaurant set in the main hall of the Royal Baths in Harrogate plans to reopen next year after months of repairs.

Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant has been closed for most of the last two years due to coronavirus lockdowns and an extensive refurbishment that began in May this year.

Because the restaurant is based in a Grade II listed building, the work has been more complicated than expected.

The building, which is owned by North Yorkshire County Council, underwent a series of roof repairs before work started on the internal central hall in September.

Read more:

• Air pollution risks from Harrogate’s wood-burning stoves ‘cannot be ignored’
• Stonefall candlelit vigil remembers war dead at Christmas

Now the Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant has revealed that the works are almost complete. It said on its Facebook page:

“We are almost finished with the renovations. However we will not be open until after the New Year.

“Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. We look forward to seeing everyone in 2022.”

Although the Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant has been closed, the owners have continued operating at their other site, Haks Little Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant, on Station Parade.

Plumpton Rocks is set reopen to the public in the spring of 2022 after several years of restoration works.

The Grade II* listed parkland and man-made lake fell into disrepair towards the end of the last century before Historic England added it to the “Heritage at Risk Register” in 2012.

Since then Historic England has worked with the current owners and pumped in more than £400,000.

The visitor attraction first closed for a major programme of repairs in 2013, which included works on the parkland, the dam and on the lake. It reopened three years later in 2016.

Plumpton Rocks closed again in October 2019 to do further work on the dam and bring it up to standard for the Reservoirs Act 1975.

However, the combination of extremely wet weather and heavy machinery forced the owners to pause the works until March 2020.

Coronavirus meant that the works were only able to restart in October 2020. Today the dam restoration is complete but remedial works remain for other areas of the site.

Read more:

• New dog theft inspector for North Yorkshire
• Confusion and queues over covid jab appointments

Robert de Plumpton Hunter, who inherited Plumpton Rocks from his father in 2010, told the Stray Ferret:

“When we started work on the dam in October 2019 the conditions were horrific. It was supposed to take three months but the conditions were so desperate.

“So we got to December and we had not made much progress. We were doing more harm than good so we stopped to restart in March 2020 but that is when coronavirus hit.

“The dam works finished in January 2021 but we need to do more work on the paths and the parkland before we reopen.

“I only want to let people in when it’s safe with coronavirus and when it is looking as good as it can be.”

Hopefully that would mean no more works would be needed for the next 100 years, he added.

Plumpton Rocks restoration timeline

• 2012 – Heritage England puts Plumpton Rocks on the Heritage at Risk register
• 2013 – Plumpton Rocks closes for restoration of lake, dam and parkland
• 2016 – Plumpton Rocks reopens after works
• October 2019 – Plumpton Rocks closes for dam improvements
• December 2019 – Dam improvements paused after poor weather
• March 2020 – Dam improvement works due to restart but pandemic restrictions begin
• October 2020 – Dam improvements restart
• January 2021 – Dam improvements completed
• Spring 2022 – Plumpton Rocks due to reopen after several years of works

The reopening of one of Ripon’s architectural gems is being held up.

The first phase of restoration of St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church was due to be completed by the end of this month. This would have allowed Easter celebrations to be held in the Grade II* Listed Building at Coltsgate Hill.

However, the delayed delivery of specialist glass means the reopening will now not take place until July.

Parish priest Canon Ian Smith told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s frustrating, because we are eager to have the church back in use for services and private prayer.

Pictured in St Wilfrid’s before the start of restoration work are Canon Ian Smith and parishioner Barrie Price, chair of fundraising.

“It is a beautiful building and it will be great to see it back to its former glory.”

While the first element of the £500,000 restoration work has been underway, socially-distanced services have been held in the adjacent St Wilfrid’s Community Centre.

Fr Ian said:

“To meet social distancing requirements, the number of parishioners who can come to services is restricted.

“Parishioners wishing to attend need to book in advance, by calling Anne Storey on 01765 605632.”

In anticipation of larger congregations over Easter, additional seating will be available in a room next to the community centre hall.

Masses taking place in the hall can be viewed on a screen.

Services at St Wilfrid’s are held at 4pm and 5.30pm on Saturdays, 9am and 10.30am on Sundays and 9.15am Tuesday to Friday.

Read more:

• Ripon’s St Wilfrid’s church in line for £500,000 refurbishment
• Ambitious plan to reinstate Ripon to Harrogate railway line
• Ripon delivers tonnes of support