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 ; 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 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 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 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 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 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. Marehay located on land which in the Colliery started in the early 13th century was owned years of the 19th century by Ralph de Wyteleg. Over and was sold to Butterley the centuries this name has Company in 1860. It was evolved to Whiteley. opposite the site of the Mary Hay Parc was granted Miners Arms, now known as to the Zouch family of The Village Inn. Codnor Castle in 1542 The railway line from Little after the Dissolution of the Eaton reached Marehay in Monasteries by Henry VIII. 1856, crossing the road at Marehay Hall is situated close what is now Marehay Garage. to Street Lane. With the need for passenger St John’s Church started traffic from Ripley town life as a corrugated sheet centre, the line was extended construction in 1871.The in 1890 to Ripley Station on foundation stones of the brick Nottingham Road. Marehay church were laid in 1873. crossing was closed St John’s Church closed in in 1963 and the line 1987 and it was sold to the converted into a footpath, Pentecostal Church, who known as Ripley Greenway. renamed it as The Springs of Living Water in 1990. Whiteley is one of the oldest named areas in the whole of Ripley. Marehay Miners’ Welfare was built on the site of Whiteley Colliery which was started around 1835 Railway crossing

8 6 Heage

Heage is a scattered village sailed windmill; work on it with two main parts, Heage itself started in 1791 and it was and Nether Heage (or formerly first recorded as working in High Heage and Low Heage). 1797. Originally built with four The name Heage is derived sails, improvements in 1894 from the Old English hēah and led to six sails. The mill sails ecg, and means ‘high edge’ were virtually destroyed by or ‘high ridge’. In 1817 it was the weather in 1919 and the recorded that “Heage, alias mill was not used again until High-edge, lies about five miles the restoration was completed from Duffield, upon the road in 2002. Each of the six sails from Chesterfield to Derby.” weighs nearly one ton, and This turnpike road passed the tower is built from local through Duffield, Pentrich, sandstone. The windmill is a Oakerthorpe and eventually to Grade II listed building and Sheffield. It is rumoured that is now a major Dick Turpin rode along this attraction. road on his way to York. In 1842 three men from Heage were involved in criminal activities which caused quite a stir at the time. They were sentenced to death and gave rise to local sayings such as “They ‘ang ‘em in bunches in Heage”, and “You can tell a man from Heage by the rope mark on his neck.” © picturethepast.org.uk The restored Heage Windmill Railway crossing Heage is known for its six-

8 9 7 Butterley

In 1276 the Abbot of Darley all manufactured here. Abbey enclosed a new park Butterley Company employed at “Buterleg”, now known as thousands of people from Butterley Park. There was a Ripley and the surrounding mill near to where Butterley area, with farms, collieries, Station now stands. Codnor Park Ironworks and Benjamin Outram and brickyards all belonging to Company was founded in 1790 the Company. The works had to extract coal and ironstone. its own fire brigade, post With the support of Richard office and health centre. Arkwright, it was decided to New rail links were important build a canal from Cromford to the developing business to Langley Mill with William in the 19th century. Butterley Jessop as the engineer. Station was opened in 1875. The canal included a tunnel Services between Butterley 2996 yards long and the and Ripley were permanently Butterley Reservoir was withdrawn on 1st June 1930, created to provide a ready together with trains between supply of water. The canal Ripley and Derby. Butterley completed in 1793. Station was closed to regular There were many passenger traffic on 16th developments on the June 1947. Butterley Works site and products included tram rails, steam engines and bridges. The St Pancras Station roof, the Wheel (the world’s © picturethepast.org.uk first rotating ) and “Legging” through Cromford canal Portsmouth’s Spinnaker were tunnel 1845

10 8 Market Place

On 25th November 1251 shooting galleries and a Henry III visited “ghost show”. while hunting. At the Abbot’s The Local Board was formed in request he granted Ripley a 1867 and took over the market weekly market and annual and fair, constructing the Market fair by signing a charter later Place. The market hall that that year. These were held on was built in 1880 on the site what was then known as “The of The White House, that had Green”. stood on The Green for many All roads to and from Ripley years, was never successful led to The Green and until the and was adapted to become late 18th century it was a few the Town Hall for the new scattered cottages with rough Ripley Urban District Council. tracks for roads. There was The top of Lowes Hill, next also a well and a quarry. On to the Market Place was 18th June 1742 John Wesley renamed Church Street when preached on The Green, the new church was built in allegedly next to a thorn tree, 1821. Next to the old White on his way to Sheffield. Lion alehouse there was Ripley Fair has been held a path. In 1904 this track on the Market Place since became Grosvenor Road. the 1251 Charter. Since the mid 19th century it has always been around the 23rd October. It had a good reputation for horse sales, but there were also © picturethepast.org.uk many entertainments such © picturethepast.org.uk as jugglers, melodramas, Ripley Fair

10 11 9 Co-op Square

In 1860 a small group an 82 foot high tower with a of Butterley Company copper roof, a flagpole and workers started a shop in a clock made by Smiths of a house on Butterley Hill. Derby. Their aim was to set up a A radio and TV shop was shop which bought quality added (in Grosvenor Road) goods wholesale and sold and the Funeral Service was them. Any profits went to the established, together with the members in the form of a motor garage in Derby Road dividend. and a taxi service. In June 1864, they changed There were more than the name to the Ripley Co- 30,000 members, each with operative and Provident a unique number to record Society. the dividend to be paid out Expansion was rapid. In during the year – everyone 1870 they bought premises looked forward to the day on Park Corner for £50. They the “divi” was paid! Many made structural alterations to still remember that important the premises and it became “divi” number. both the provisions (i.e. With the change in shopping grocery) and boot and shoe habits the branch shops departments. and the travelling shops The crowning moment for the disappeared. New, smaller Society was on the 18th July branches, or convenience 1903 when the new premises stores, were built around the on Nottingham Road were area. These included the opened, with a procession petrol station and store on through the streets and a Hartshay Hill and the store on “great meeting”. There was Maple Avenue.

12 10 Hammersmith

Until the Butterley Company Hammersmith was known as purchased the land early in Lowes Hill Lane. Everyone the 19th century and built a from Ripley who went to the number of semi-detached Parish Church at Pentrich and terraced houses, must have used this path Hammersmith was a small every Sunday. hamlet. Padley Hall has Elizabethan A geological survey of a origins, but was substantially large area around Ripley improved in the 17th century. during the years 1817-27 In 1679 Robert Fearne of shows pits near Padley Hall Padley Hall, a Quaker, was at Hammersmith. sent to prison for not paying A house on the site of Padley a tithe of one shilling and Hall was probably the home sixpence. Quakers did not of the le Luy family in the recognise the role of priests, 14th century. The family which the tithe supported, name evolved into Lowes, and so in conscience refused and the road from Ripley to to pay the tithe. Pentrich that passes through

© picturethepast.org.uk Hammersmith – early 20th century, with the cinder breaker on Cinder Bank in the background

12 13 We are fortunate to have many local community groups in the Ripley Township. Below are some of the groups who have been supported by a Ripley Town Council grant. If you would like more information about applying for a financial grant for your group, please contact: [email protected] / 01773 513456 Local Group information 1st Ripley Guides Ripley & District Heritage Trust 4th Ripley Brownies Ripley & District Twinning Association Aim Excelsum Ripley & District U3A Ambergate Carnival Ripley Hospital League of Friends Ripley Ladies Group Amber Sound Ripley Leisure Centre Badminton Club Movie Makers Ripley Music Festival Amber Valley Rotary Ripley OAP Association Amber Valley Stroke Group Ripley Running Club Ambergate Cricket Club Ripley Town Football Club Blend Youth Project Ripley Mancave Butterley United Cricket Club Ripley Morris CAB Derbyshire Sawmills Over 60’s Club Friends of Carr Wood Sawmills Village Hall Friends of Ripley Greenway Sisu Greenhillocks The Rotary Club of Ripley Greenwich Park Sports Partnership The Royal British Legion Heage and Nether Heage Carnival The Village Hall at Heage Hearing Help Waingroves Community Association Marehay Bowls Club Waingroves Community Woodland Trust Marehay Community Trust Waingroves Show Marehay Cricket Club Woodie’s Wings Meadow Road Neighbourhood Watch Yellow Daisies Stay & Play Group Musical Dimension Nether Heage Community News & Neighbourhood Watch Pentrich & South Wingfield Revolution For further information please see: Group www.ripleytowncouncil.gov.uk Ripley and Tennis Club Ripley District Guiding

14 14 15 Here are some telephone numbers you may find useful Emergency Services Police 999 (emergencies) 101 (non-emergency) Ambulance 999 NHS 111 Fire 999 Mountain Rescue 999 RSPCA (emergency) 0300 1234999

Hospitals Ripley Hospital 01773 743456 Royal Derby Hospital 01332 340131

Crimestoppers 0800 555111 Drug Helpline (24 hour) 0800 776600 Samaritans (24 hour) 116123 Severn Trent Water 0800 7834444 Water Floodline 08459 881188

Local services Ripley Leisure Centre 01773 514727 Ripley Library 01629 532982 Ripley Post Office 01773 512932

It is important that you contact the correct council for the right service Local Councils Ripley Town Council 01773 513456 Amber Valley Borough Council 01773 570222 Derbyshire County Council 01629 533190

16 Produced in 2021