Ripley Town Guide A short history of Ripley and local villages Includes a map of Ripley Township Issue 1 Produced by Ripley Town Council Written by1 Ian Fisher Introduction The Township of Ripley has land in Ripley to local farmers a rich and varied history. who enclosed it and began to Ripley consists of a dozen mine coal and ironstone. or so villages and hamlets By the 17th century, Ripley with a town centre that was big enough to separate has developed over the from Pentrich, although centuries. This Town Guide people still had to travel there explains some of the history to worship. In 1742, John of the area that is shown on Wesley preached in Ripley information boards displayed Market Place and later the in the villages and town first non-conformist chapels centre. were built. Ripley Parish The earliest history of Ripley Church was built in 1822, probably starts with the perhaps as a response to the Roman road at Street Lane. Pentrich Revolution. Later, there were Saxon The Industrial Revolution settlements at “Riplelie” and transformed Ripley into a “Pentric” that are mentioned vibrant market town. It began in the Domesday Book of with the Cromford Canal; 1086. The town prospered, when digging the tunnel and, after Henry III visited under Butterley Hall, the to go hunting in 1251, he engineers William Jessop granted a charter for a weekly and Benjamin Outram found market and an annual fair. ironstone and coal. In 1790 On the Dissolution of the they bought the hall and its Monasteries in 1542, the lands with finance provided lands belonging to Darley by Francis Beresford and Abbey were bought by two John Wright. In 1792 the four noble families. The Dukes of men founded the Butterley Devonshire (the Cavendishes) Company. owned most of Pentrich, and By the mid 20th century the Zouch family of Codnor Butterley Company employed Castle, who sold most of their over 10,000 mainly in the 2 ironworks, brickworks and mines and factories across the the pits. There was also Township. Out of town shopping employment in factories took away much of the vibrancy and businesses, among of the town centre and the them Ogles Agricultural market became just a few stalls. Implements, Towlson’s New housing estates, Wire Factory, Stevenson’s supermarkets and industrial Dyers, Johnson’s Wire areas have replaced the old Works, Ripley Manufacturing works and pits, but the Township Company producing textiles of Ripley continues to adapt to and horsehair products, a changing world with the same Smedley’s soft drinks factory strength and determination that and Brittains printers and once drove a vital part of the stationers. Industrial Revolution. The early twentieth century This guide has been written was the heyday of commerce by Ian Fisher and Peter Smith. in Ripley. Stalls filled the Acknowledgement goes to the market square, often staying Ripley and District Heritage open until late in the evening. Trust as a major source of The Co-op had many shops, information used in the guide, covering everything from particularly their publication wet fish to boots and shoes. of the history of Ripley written In 1903 they built their new by members of the WI in the headquarters, with its 82ft 1930s. Ripley Town Council high clock tower whose dome has published the guide and is still a landmark in Ripley. we also thank Nigel Weaving, In the 1930s, as shown in and those who have given Walter Brierley’s book “Means permission for illustrations to Test Man”, Ripley was a be used. busy, bustling, noisy, smoky place. He also describes how difficult life was for those who lost their jobs before the changes in society after the Second World War. The second half of the 20th century brought closure to Ian Fisher 2 3 1 Street Lane Roman soldiers will have The first Morley Park furnace marched up this straight road was built for Francis Hurt of during the period 43 AD to Ambergate in 1780 and the 410 AD. This was a Roman second added in 1818. Iron road called Ryknield Street, ore and limestone were tipped and is known as Street Lane from the top into charging from what is now Station Road holes and the blast was at Smithy Houses in Denby to introduced by a battery of its junction with Heage Road, steam engines. The furnaces known as Chadwick Grave. were supplied by a series The Roman road runs from of banks of coke ovens and the Fosse Way at Bourton on 3000 yards of wagonways. the Water in Gloucestershire Production stopped in to Templeborough in South 1874 but the furnaces were Yorkshire. Locally the route restored in 1986, so they can was from Chester Green to still be visited today. Breadsall, to Smithy Houses and up to the Roman Camp at Coneygrey. At the northern end of Street Lane we can still see the remains of the Morley Park furnaces. These were cold- blast and coke-fired iron smelting furnaces. These are Grade II listed and are also a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The remains of the Morley Park blast furnaces 4 2 Sawmills The village is named after probably starting around 1876. the sawmills used for cutting It became Bull Bridge Brick marble that were near the Company in 1889. After the canal and river. The marble 1920s it was owned by Midland cut at the site originated Refractories, producing bricks from Hopton Wood Quarry, and refractory products. It closed probably brought to the in 1981. sawmill by horse drawn wagon. The stone was used for facing fine houses around Britain after being transported down the canals to the River Trent. The only remains of the sawmill are four cottages, now two houses, near the four arch bridge into the old brickworks. The rest were demolished to make way There was also a brickyard for the Belper to Pye Bridge at what is now known as railway line in 1875. Riversdale. This was owned by Edwin Glossop, probably starting There were two brickyards in 1917. Butterley Brick Company in Sawmills. One was where bought the works in 1947 and it Lockwoods Haulage is finally closed in 1970, becoming now, although it was linked a tip. Bricks from this works to the brickyard that was were used to build the houses in at Buckland Hollow. It was Riversdale and also used known as the Ambergate in the building of the new Roman Brick and Tile Company, Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool. 4 5 3 Waingroves The first known reference of miners on the site of to the village is when land the pit shaft in Waingroves at “Waingrif” was granted Community Woodland. for “perpetual almsgiving” Brick making was a common (meaning that the rent was industry in the Ripley used to support the poor) by area in the 1800s; Ripley Ralph Fitz-Stephen in 1147. Dannah Street School and The land was held by Henry Porterhouse Road are built of Waingrif. on brickwork sites. In the The Zouch family of Codnor late 19th century there was Castle were given the land a brickworks between Pit after the Dissolution of the Lane and Queen Street in Monasteries by Henry VIII Waingroves. and the first reference to The much larger Waingroves “Waingroves” was after his Brickworks, part of the death in 1586. Butterley Company, provided The village grew during the much needed employment second half of the 1800s with after the closure of the pit. the opening of the colliery A vivid portrait of the village in 1859. There was a single in the 1920s and 1930s can 10ft diameter shaft and be found in the novels of associated headworks. The Walter Brierley, a Waingroves Butterley Company also built born miner who wrote rows of cottages on Church about his experience of Street. When the mine flooded unemployment in “Means Test during the miners’ strike of Man” and “Sandwich Man”. 1921, it never re-opened. The colliery is commemorated by a wonderful sculpture 6 4 Ambergate Ambergate grew from the old Thompson designed station Hamlet of Toadmoor, (t’owd opened in 1840. In 1849 the moor) mostly through the Ambergate to Buxton line development of transport opened and led to an unusual links. For four miles to the triangular station. north, road, river, canal and This opened the Peak District rail ran side by side, as they to many early tourists and the do today. station was very busy. The Cromford Canal, linking The coaching inn was built by mills at Cromford with the rest Francis Hurt in 1874 and bears of the world via canal links his name, The Hurt Arms. All from Langley Mill to the River the stables are long gone. Trent, was built by William Jessop and Benjamin Outram Further along the A6 there and was completed in 1793. was the wire works, founded The Canal also provided a by Richard Johnson in 1876 route for the transport of vital on the site of an old foundry minerals to Butterley Ironworks. started by Francis Hurt many years previously. The The village name probably Ha’penny Bridge on Holly came from the Turnpike Lane, so named as the toll Road opened in 1817. Here, was one ha’penny, was also a series of tollgates which built by Francis Hurt. controlled the junction of the roads to Cromford and Langley Mill were known as the “Amber Gate”. George Stephenson was the engineer for the Derby to © picturethepast.org.uk Leeds railway and the Francis Amber Gate toll bar 6 7 5 Marehay The village of Marehay is and closed in 1936.