Two rock formations - magnesian limestone and new red sandstone - meet at Ripon. It is where the Pennine Hills meet the Vale of York or, if you like, where the shepherds meet the farmers. In the south a similar situation gave rise to the expression 'chalk and cheese' - a combination which produces a market.

Why did Thursday develop as Ripon's market day? Ripon was the first of Wilfrid's monasteries and his principal shrine where Thursdays, celebrated as the day he died, were kept 'as a feast as though it were a Sunday' . Thursdays would draw extra pilgrims for whom traders would set out their stalls. The inspiration for Thursday as Ripon's market day can reasonably be claimed to go back to the eighth century.

By the end of the thirteenth century, as well as the weekly market, a charter had been granted for fairs in May and October. In addition there were the corn market, wool market and 'fairs' for the sale of cattle, sheep and horses at different times of the year. The archbishop's officers not only took the tolls, they tasted the ale, checked weights and measures and controlled the sale of goods. The court of pie-powder (pied-poudreux - dusty feet) settled disputes and punished offenders.

Ripon's principal coaching inns were the Black Bull and the Unicorn which boasted Tom Crudd as its Boots. In 1837 there were 39 inns and 16 beer-houses in Ripon. In Westgate alone 11 hostelries offered country-folk somewhere to leave their horses on market day and refresh themselves before their return.