2 rabbits fleeing from a griffon - a legendary beast with wings
and claws.
The rabbit at top right is disappearing down a rabbit hole.
Lewis
Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-98) was more
commonly
known as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventures
in
Wonderland. His father became a residentiary canon of the
Cathedral in 1852.
During his many visits to Ripon, Carroll
wrote Ye Carpette Knyghte and several pages of Through the
Looking-Glass, as well as a number of mathematical papers.
Carroll’s work may have been inspired
by carvings in
the choir, especially the misericord of a griffon chasing a rabbit
down a rabbit hole.
Sir George Gilbert Scott depicted the
Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat in the south transept to
commemorate this connection.
Canon Dodgson is commemorated on the clergy
board beneath the south-west
tower.
