Will the crucial role of Ripon’s Royal Engineers in the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy be lost in the sands of time?
As the 80th anniversary of this key event in world history fast approaches and features in media coverage across the globe, Ripon Military Heritage Trust is facing a battle with the bulldozers on the home front.
The Ripon barracks site, which is due to be vacated by 21 Engineer Regiment of the Royal Engineers in two years to make way for the 1,300-home Clotherholme development, is a time capsule that helps to tell the story of world war and cold war invention, ingenuity and innovation.
The area uniquely links priceless relics of the 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 conflicts that are of major historical importance.
Heritage assets currently located there include extremely rare accommodation huts built in 1939, along with bridges and structures, such as a concrete weir constructed on the River Laver to turn the turbines of a power station serving a huge World War One army camp.
The battle cry of Ripon Military Heritage Trust can be seen in a banner hanging high above High Skellgate
In the wake of the Japanese aerial bombardment of the USA fleet at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the Americans came to Ripon to learn from the Royal Engineers how to deal with unexploded ordnance.
It was a Trans-Atlantic training arrangement and helping-hand from across the sea, that emphasised the growing ‘special relationship’ between the two countries.
Ripon was also the base where allied military personnel from the USA, Canada and Europe, were trained in the methods of installing Bailey Bridges.
Ripon’s role recognised by top military figures
The importance of this then revolutionary, new bridging system was highlighted in a letter to the Royal Engineers from Field-Marshal Montgomery who wrote:
Planning update
Last week, the government agencies Homes England and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation provided an update on the Clotherholme proposals in a planning report published on North Yorkshire Council’s website.
The report pledged to “work with the Ripon Military Heritage Trust on a heritage strategy which will balance the urgent need for new homes for local people with a strategy for preserving and recording the unique history and heritage of the barracks”.
The trust’s continuing concerns
But the trust, which has launched a website as part of a campaign to preserve key aspects of the site, believes the agencies have shown little desire to co-operate since Harrogate Borough Council granted planning permission in February last year and their pledges remain vague and opaque.
Trust chairman Guy Wilson said:
“We are hugely disappointed that after 15 months of engagement with Homes England, the current outline planning application lacks any provision for the preservation of even a single example of the rare and unique huts at Deverell Barracks.
“Neither has any land been allocated to allow for the relocation and re-use of these heritage assets. Both were specific requests that the Harrogate Borough Council planning committee called for in February 2023.
“It has sadly become apparent that none of the parties to this development has any real interest in preserving the heritage of the site and none has made any attempt to work constructively with us. All they are interested in is appearing to do enough to get their present plans passed without alteration, in which case the result will be that significant heritage assets will be lost and this we very much regret.”
The planning update said the housing scheme will preserve the main military roads and names as well as provide information signs
Trust display
Trustees Michael and Jane Furse of Ripon Military Heritage Trust, showed Major Daryl Murphy, the second-in-command of Ripon’s Royal Engineers the newly-created display.
Trustee Michael Furse told the Stray Ferret:
“The city has a rich and deep military history and has enjoyed a long and close relationship with the Royal Engineers.
“We and many Ripon residents strongly believe that the important heritage assets at the barracks site are worth fighting for.”
Main image: Field-Marshal Montgomery recognised the important role that Ripon’s Royal Engineers played in the installation of Bailey Bridges, such as this one in Italy. Picture Wikipedia
Read more:
- The countdown is on for Ripon’s D-Day anniversary event
- Rallying call from Ripon Military Heritage Trust
North Yorkshire Council is arranging for Ripon’s War Memorial to have a deep clean to rid it of dirt and algae.
Since it was unveiled in October 1921, the memorial in Spa Gardens has been the focal point of the city’s Services of Remembrance, commemorating those who served and died for their country in the conflicts of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.
Each year hundreds of people, ranging from scouts and guides to former servicemen and women and civic dignitaries, gather in the gardens to pay respect to the fallen.
In recent years, some of the 339 names of Ripon men who died in the two world wars have become obscured by green algae.
This led Ripon City Council to call on the former Harrogate Borough Council to carry out a thorough clean.
City council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“We raised the issue of the condition of the memorial on at least two separate occasions with officers at Harrogate council and were told 18 months ago that the memorial was on annual spring cleaning programme, but nothing happened.
“I’m pleased to say that we have had an immediate and positive response from the North Yorkshire parks and environmental services team.
“We have been advised that they have inspected the memorial and have instructed a specialist contractor to undertake cleaning in the coming weeks to bring it back up to the standard required.”
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- Dignitaries gather at Ripon mayor making ceremony
Ceremony marks start of remembrance events in Ripon
Ripon’s week of events to remember the dead of two world wars and other conflicts began at the weekend.
The Dean of Ripon, The Very Revd. John Dobson, led prayers as he blessed the Royal British Legion Garden of Remembrance next to the cathedral.
Saturday’s ceremony was attended by serving officers and standard bearers representing all of the armed forces, along with civic dignitaries, including Stuart Martin, the chair of North Yorkshire County Council and a Ripon councillor, and city council leader Andrew Williams.
Attendees were invited to place small wooden crosses bearing a poppy, in front of the plinth at the garden
A two-minute silence was observed before small crosses with poppies on them were put in place by a number of attendees in front of the garden plinth.
Jeet Bahadur Sahi, who served in the Gurkhas for 22 years and is chair of the Royal British Legion Ripon branch, told the Stray Ferret:
“This is a special year for the legion and the branch as we celebrate our 100th anniversary.
“The remembrance garden, which opened in 2018, was created by the Ripon branch with support from the public, businesses and authorities.
“In addition to the war memorial in Spa Gardens, it provides a permanent and prominent place where the fallen can be remembered.”
Photograph: Tyler Parker Photography
Spa Gardens will be the focus next weekend when Ripon’s civic Remembrance Sunday service is held at the city’s war memorial, followed by a service at the cathedral.
The event, which starts at 11am, will honour the service and sacrifice of the armed forces, British Commonwealth veterans, allies and civilians involved in the world wars and other conflicts.
Those wishing to attend are asked to assemble at Spa Gardens from 10.30. Following the service, there will be a march past and salute in front of Ripon Town Hall, with the procession leading to the cathedral, where a further service will be held.
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