For centuries the purposed of the cross-shaped arrow slits at Ripon Cathedral have been a mystery Credit: Press Association
For centuries the purposed of the cross-shaped arrow slits at Ripon Cathedral have been a mystery. But now archery specialists believe they have partly found the answer.
Guy Wilson and John Waller volunteered to take a longbow and a crossbow to the battlements at the request of the cathedral’s archaeologist, Liz Humble.
Guy Wilson and John Waller took longbow and crossbow to the battlements of Ripon Cathedral Credit: Ripon Cathedral
The pair proved that the arrow slits could not have been used to defend the cathedral because the pitch of the medieval roof and its proximity to the slits meant that archers could not have stood far enough away at the correct angle to draw a longbow or use a crossbow.
