Staff at the St Mary Magdalen Leper Chapel in Ripon, North Yorkshire, may be calling to mind the parable of the wise builder after a narrow escape from one of the many sinkholes to open up in flood-hit Britain this month. On Monday, a 25ft crater appeared underneath houses on Magdalen’s Close, about 100 yards away from the chapel, situated round the corner on Magdalen Road. A modern house was left on the brink of collapse and two others were evacuated. Meanwhile, the Norman chapel, which dates from 1115, was unharmed. Its chaplain, the Revd John Langdon, reassured us that “it is on very solid ground, high above any water likely to get into it – they knew about foundations in those days”. In the parable, Jesus compares those who put his teachings into practice as li