Alice in Wonderland author’s Ripon home up for sale for £1.6m

A house in North Yorkshire which was once home to Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll has gone up for sale for £1.6m.

Ripon Old Hall, a Grade II listed Georgian town house on High St Agnesgate in the centre of Ripon, was built in the 18th Century and Carroll lived there as a young man in the 1850s when his father was a canon of the cathedral.

David Winpenny, from Ripon Civic Society, said the house, with three reception rooms, six bedrooms, three bathrooms and private walled gardens, was “very important”.

“It’s one of the most historic houses in Ripon. We know it was built in 1738 and it was altered in the mid-19th Century, but it’s got some very fine interiors,” he explained.

“It has some very good plasterwork, including a big ceiling with the Judgment of Paris on it from ancient history.”

Mr Winpenny, co-chairman of Ripon Civic Society, said Lewis Carroll – the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – was a regular resident at the house for several years.

“His father was Archdeacon of Richmond, which meant he was a canon in residence at the cathedral for three months each year, so he had to turn up and do the services,” he said.

“His family lived at the Old Hall for three months of the year between 1852 and 1858, so young Charles came home to Ripon when he was at university, and then later on when he was actually working in Oxford.”

Mr Winpenny explained that while Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was published in 1865, some years after his time in Ripon, it was believed that some aspects of the much-loved book could have been inspired during that period spent in Yorkshire.

“We think he was inspired by some of the carvings of the cathedral, the Cheshire Cat and the rabbits going down rabbit holes in the cathedral,” he said.

“He also wrote poems for the children of the Bishop of Ripon while he was there.”

Michael Godwin, 61, who currently owns Ripon Old Hall, has lived in the property for 15 years, but said he was selling the house to downsize.

Mr Godwin said that when he first visited the house, it was a case of love at first sight.

“I lived in a manor house in the countryside prior to this. I sold that and I was looking for somewhere to buy,” he said.

“I saw this one online and it created a little bit of interest, but I hadn’t been to see it. Then one day I just thought, ‘oh I’ve got to see that house’.

“As soon as they opened the front door, within two seconds, I looked at the Georgian features and the staircase and the ceiling on the staircase and I thought, ‘yes, I’ll have this’.”

Mr Godwin, who runs an access platform company, said he had been aware of the home’s historical connections when he bought it.

“There’s a blue plaque on the outside. The agent who showed me around at the time said there was a white panel bedroom he believed was Lewis Carroll’s,” he said.

“It was obviously a choice location when it was built, being near the cathedral.

“It’s just a stunning home, but I’ve enjoyed it for 15 years and it’s time for somebody else to enjoy it now.”