A HORNBLOWER from Yorkshire’s smallest city is set to take part in a 1,000-year-old tradition for the first time.

On Monday night (November 6) Ripon’s historic Hornblower will 'call the watch’ over the river Thames in London for the fist time in its 1,000-year history.

The 1,137 year old nightly ritual of the Ripon Hornblower, first began to warn locals that the Vikings, or Northmen were coming.

In the city of just 19,000 people, a horn has been blown from every corner of the marketplace at 9pm every night, without exception for more than a thousand years.

York Press: Ripon City’s first female Hornblower Allison Clark

Allison Clark, Ripon City’s first female Hornblower, who is heading to London to ‘call the watch', said: “Along with my three Hornblower colleagues, I must have one of the longest-standing, unaltered job descriptions in the world.

“I never imagined when I took the role that I would be on the Thames next to the Tower of London announcing that North Yorkshire is ‘at large’ in London!”

The occasion comes to mark the start of the World Travel Market, taking place at Excel London from November 6-8.

The event aims to get people ‘All Aboard for Yorkshire’ and learn more about the city culture and beautiful locations to be found across the wider York and North Yorkshire area.

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Representing the county at the World Travel Market, alongside North Yorkshire Council and Visit York will be joined by other local tourism boards to 'meet the world'.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for the visitor economy, Cllr Derek Bastiman, said: “The visitor economy is a major contributor to North Yorkshire’s economy, bringing in more than £1.5 billion a year and attracting over 33 million visitors from domestic visits alone to the county.

“We can work together to attend events such as the World Travel Market to welcome the international inbound travel industry to the north and boost the county’s visitor economy.

“I am extremely proud of our heritage and having a Hornblower from our area sound the horn over the River Thames for the first time in over a thousand years is quite the honour.”