Ribchester

Beneath the streets of Ribchester lie the remains of a fifty acre Roman fort built around 80CE to garrison some 500 cavalrymen. Beside the river at Ribchester are small but decent remains of the Roman bath house which served the fort, open to wander around.

Nearby an 18th century schoolboy found a magnificent Roman ceremonial helmet which is now in the British Museum – there is a replica of it in the small museum just outside St Wilfrid’s churchyard.

The churchyard itself is situated directly over a corner of the fort’s treasury building and has a sun-dial with the inscription:

I am a Shadow.
So art Thou.
I mark Time.
Dost Thou?

The village is encircled by green hills and is sheltered by a curve of the River Ribble, a pleasant jumble of coloured stone cottages in long, twisting terraces. The White Bull, dated 1707 has a porch canopy supported by four columns said to be from the Roman ruins. Many stones from the fort also went into building of the 13th-century church.

Inside the church at Ribchester is a Jacobean pulpit and a faded mural to St Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. People wishing to cross the swift-flowing River Ribble – a dangerous undertaking in the in the 13th century, resulted in the drowning of Ribchester’s first recorded rector, Drogo. The river Ribble now has a bridge at Ribchester which was built in 1774.