3-086-704 - Ware in the World/Heritage Images

Horn blowers in procession, Ripon, Yorkshire, c1955. Every night a horn is blown at the four corners of the Obelisk in Ripon Market Place to set the 'watch', and then outside the house of the Mayor. This ceremony commemorates the time in the Middle Ages when Ripon's first citizen, the Wakeman, was responsible for crime prevention in the city from 9 pm until dawn and had to compensate victims of burglary.