A city's links with author Lewis Carroll and his children's story, Alice in Wonderland, will be celebrated at a conference next week.

The 400-strong Lewis Carroll Society, whose members come from 37 countries, is holding its conference for the first time in Ripon, North Yorkshire, from August 4 to 6, using the College of Ripon and York St John as its base.

Society secretary Alan White said: "We have chosen Ripon because it relates to Lewis Carroll. It was a place he visited and his father was a canon at the cathedral."

The adventures of Alice in Wonderland, written under the Lewis Carroll pseudonym by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, were once described as "the most delightful books for children ever written." The inspiration for Alice is said to have been taken from a picture hanging in Sharow vicarage, a mile from the cathedral.

Mr White said the story was still as popular today, with a new illustrated version having been commissioned by a major publisher.

Scientist Dr Tony Cooper, of the British Geological Survey in Nottingham, believes Lewis Carroll may have been inspired to write Alice by the appearance of gypsum craters in the Ure Bank area of Ripon, where a recent hole has just been filled in after wrangling between residents and North Yorkshire County Council.

"There is a connection between the author, the city of Ripon and dramatic subsidence that occurred at Ure Lodge, where the original Alice used to live," said Dr Cooper.

Lewis Carroll's father was Canon Charles Dodgson, of Ripon Cathedral, and the family were friendly with the Badcocks, who lived at Ure Lodge.

During holidays in Ripon, Carroll lodged at homes in Cathedral Close and High Saint Agnesgate, on some visits working on Through the Looking Glass. He also stayed at The Unicorn Hotel, in the Market Place, a port of call for the conference delegates.

Northern devotees of Carroll, who died in 1898, bemoan the fact that Ripon is largely ignored when the author is mentioned.

During the conference, there will be a visit to the cathedral where the White Rabbit and other animals from the children's story, are said to have been inspired from choir stall carvings.

Pen and ink work of society member Brian Partridge and photographer Norman Roberts will form a cathedral exhibition linked to the Carroll theme.