Cabmen'S Shelter

97/0/10011 19-FEB-09

RIPON MARKET PLACE Cabmen's shelter

II

Cabmen's shelter, 1911 by Boulton and Paul of Norwich and paid for by Sarah Carter of Ripon.

MATERIALS Timber with ironwork balustrade and guttering, beechwood shingled roof.

FORM Prefabricated timber building about 2m by 3m, divided up into 4 bays long by 3 bays wide. Door central to one gable end giving access to the undivided interior. The structure is raised onto a low, small wheeled steel chassis dating to 1980 and fixed in place since 1999.

EXTERIOR Each bay has a glazed upper portion divided up with thin glazing bars, the lower portion being diagonally boarded panels. The bays are divided by decorative pilasters. The lower half of each pilaster features turned sections divided by unturned blocks; the upper half, separating the windows, are fluted, curving outwards to support a shelf that extends around the structure at door lintel height. This narrow shelf has a decorative mini balustrade of iron fretwork which has been described as being in Chinese Chippendale style. This balustrade protects a run of small windows, some of which open for ventilation. Above there is a simply curving eaves cornice supporting the overhanging roof. The roof has small gablettes and is hipped. Covered with beechwood shingles, shingles also used for the ridge and hips. On one side of the shelter, immediately below the windows, there is a maker's plate.

INTERIOR The interior is plain boarded, finished with a skirting board. The sides have simple built-in benches supported on turned legs.

HISTORY The shelter was paid for by Sarah Carter (daughter of a former mayor of Ripon) in 1911 for the use of the city's drivers of horse drawn cabs awaiting fares. It was built as a prefabricated building by Boulton and Paul, the Norwich firm which also provided the huts for Scott's 1910-13 Antarctic expedition. It was restored by the Royal Engineers in 1980 who fitted it onto a wheeled chassis to allow it to be moved. It was restored again in circa 1990 following damage caused by a vehicle impact. In 1999 it was fixed in place just a few yards south of its original location.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

The Cabmen's Shelter is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons

• It has a highly decorative Edwardian design, dating from 1911.
• It is a nationally rare and well preserved example of a cabmen's shelter, an important reminder of the importance of horse-drawn transport in the early C20, supplied by the well-known firm of Boulton and Paul of Norwich.