I’m starting to gather my resources for a 2027 Zoom class about angels – lets face it if you go into a church or cathedral there they are – in stone, glass or metal – from medieval to modern. Inevitably I shall be exploring both the theologies and the philosophies attached to angels from the early Middle Ages onwards (actually I may well be going back even earlier – the Romans had their own version of angels.

So I’ve gone back to my photos – still can’t access that external hard drive- and right at the start of the photo library was Ripon Cathedral (St Peter and St Winifred). I seem to remember that the quire contains angels wherever you look, they appear on the walls, tops of columns and the misericords. Then there are the carvings on the fifteenth century quire screen depicting angels playing musical instruments. I think the examples at the start of this post are from the north wall but since I don’t have a notebook identifying the location of each photo I take, I am relying on memory.

Medieval masons – and these particular examples have been restored by the Victorians- sought to carve angels in quires as it was a way of merging the earthly choir with the heavenly host and it was also a reminder of God’s presence. I suppose you might also argue that angels were guardians of the space and if you think about the structure of a church a step closer to the most holy of spaces inside the cathedral – there’s the nave for ordinary people, the choir and then the high altar. The quire or chancel is an area that transitions from the everyday world to the most holy location in a church or cathedral. The screen and the angels are a reminder of the hierarchy.

The coat of arms with the gules (red) field with crossed keys and pascal lamb are the historic arms of the Diocese of Ripon.

The arms with the or (gold) field and the gules knot or fret is more problematic and I’ll admit to being stumped. It’s not a Harrington knot so I don’t think it’s a Markenfield device not least because their main heraldic arms are (argent) silver with a diagonal black (sable) band known as a ‘bend’ containing three bezants (gold coins). The Markenfields were an influential family in the area and several generations of them are buried in the cathedral.

The gules coat of arms with the crossed keys and crown belongs to the Diocese of York reflecting the close relationship of the two, although I think now Ripon is part of the Diocese of Leeds.

And finally there’s the coat of arms with the azure field and three mullets (stars) or which belongs to St Wilfred. The saint founded the cathedral in AD672. The crypt at Ripon is, of course, the oldest surviving in any English cathedral.

Before I forget – Ripon’s association with angels includes the ten thousand origami angels created during Covid and installed in the cathedral entitled ‘A Wing and a Prayer’. Money raised went to the restoration of the cathedral and the Yorkshire Air Ambulence service. Unfortunately I don’t have any images as unsurprisingly we didn’t do much in the way of travelling in 2020.

Friar, Stephen (ed). A new Dictionary of Heraldry (London: A & C Black, 1987)