STEWARD OF THE SOUL
STEWARD OF THE SOUL
The first holder of the post of
High Steward of Ripon
Cathedral is a farmer.
Robin Cradock finds out more
about the job and the man
ALL farmers consider themselves stewards of the land – holding it for future generations, making it a bit better than when they took it over – and handing it on to their successors.
Ripon farmer, Tom Ramsden, has now added a dimension to that concept. Not only does he farm and manage land which once formed part of the Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey Estate, he has just been appointed High Steward of Ripon Cathedral- the first ever person to hold the post.
Whilst the office has existed for centuries at cathedrals such as York Minister and Norwich, the appointment of a High Steward – or Seneschalis Magnus, in Latin – breaks new ground at Ripon.
Mr Ramsden, 48, lives just outside the city with his wife and four children. The farms contain avenues and features created by John Aislabie in 1740. Aislabie, wealthy but in disgrace after the South Sea Bubble burst, laid out in Skeldale, a tributary of the River Ure, a formal garden, moving mountains of earth and organising the river into lakes and canals with the ruins of Fountains Abbey at the end of his vista. Today it is designated as a World Heritage Site.
* Mixed holding
Mr Ramsden farms 600ha (1500 acres) of mixed arable and grassland which marks the last arable land on the western edge of the Vale of York as it runs up into the pasture of the Pennines. Currently 365ha (900 acres) of arable crops, cereals and oilseed rape are grown, the land being too stony to grow roots. The 200-245ha (500-600 acres) of grass supports two separate dairy herds each comprising 150 cows and followers.
In addition there is 245ha (600 acres) of commercial woodland much of which, the then owners, the Vyner family planted in the 1930s when farming was in such difficult times that they could not get tenants and so planted trees instead.
While the post of High Steward has been described as an "ambassador" for the cathedral, promoting its work and generating financial support throughout the Yorkshire region, Mr Ramsden draws many parallels with his farming.
* Constant care
"The cathedral has many similarities to the farm. The building like land, needs constant care, and suffers quickly (and expensively) from neglect. The daily running of the Cathedral is like the management of any business. Income must me maintained to keep pace with understandable and necessary costs. Just as farms employ agronomists and other management advisers, so the High Stewards role could be seen as much the same.
"It is like this that I hope to be of help to the chapter, and if I cant help, to find others who can."
Mr Ramsden says "one of the hardest tasks so far has been to describe the role simply and intelligibly.
"Perhaps the easiest description is that the High Steward should be the representative of the cathedral in the diocese, whilst at the same time being the representative of the diocese within the cathedral."