History
Ripley existed at the time of Domesday, when it was held by a man called Levenot.
In 1251 Henry III granted a charter for "One market, one day a week, on Wednesday, at the manor of Ryppeleg: and one fair each year, lasting three days on the Vigil Day and Morrow of St Helen"
Ripley was just a few stone cottages and farms around the village green with a few dwellings further afield in the Middle Ages. The information gathered shows that corn was ground at the mill owned by the Abbot of Darley and in 1291 there were "two water-mills with fish ponds”.
There is little in the facade of Ripley today which readily reveals its historical fascination. The local resident or visitor must look below the surface for the story which begins with the Roman occupation.
Ryknield Street was an important military and trade route from the Fosse Way in Gloucestershire northwards, and the present Street Lane was part of its course before it crossed Lower Hartshay, through Pentrich to Coneygrey Farm, the site of a small military camp.
The oldest domestic buildings in the village are Heage Hall Farm - once the home of a branch of the Chandos-Pole family and Crowtrees Farm which was built in 1450 with three good crook beams and refurbished in 1712.
Some coins and pottery have been found from the period.
SAXON AND MEDIEVAL TIMES
Little is known of pre-conquest days save that one Levenot was the owner of the two hamlets, Ripelie and Pentric. This close relationship between Ripley and Pentrich which was to continue for centuries is first indicated in the Domesday Survey of 1086: "In Ripelie and Pentric, Levenot had 2 carucates of land(assessed) to the geld. Land for 2 ploughs. There (are) now in demesne 3 ploughs, and 13 villeins and 3 bordars have 3 ploughs. There are 3 acres of meadow. Woodland for pasture 2 leagues in length and 1 in breadth. In King Edward's time it was worth £4. Now 50 shillings"
The sixteen families who lived in the two hamlets, worked the fields together, sharing grazing land and haymaking, now had to swear allegiance to William the Conqueror's newly-appointed overlord, Ralph Fitzhubert. During the 12th and 13th centuries his descendants made many grants of land to the church and Ripley and Pentrich were given to the Abbey of Darley. Thus, for some centuries, they grew and prospered under the benevolent care of the Church. The Abbot was responsible for collecting the feudal dues imposed by the King and the tithes which increased the riches of the Abbey. Their charters in the British Museum, teem with references to Paddel(Padley), the field of Lowes (Lowes Hill), Botleyam (Butterley), Witeleg (Whiteley), Salterwode (Salter Wood) and Herthay (Hartshay).
In the 12th century Pentrich Church was built, probably on the site of an earlier building. Its Norman tower is a stronghold with walls four feet thick and the nave has Norman pillars but the aisles, the clerestory and the chantry are later additions. The font is Norman but was restored from its crude and damaged state in 1662. For centuries this was the place of worship for the people of Ripley.
Ripley's village green became a more secular source of revenue for the Abbot. In 1251 he obtained from Henry III a charter which granted:-
"One market, one day a week, on Wednesday, at their manor of Ryppeleg: and one fair each year, lasting three days on the Vigil Day and Morrow of St Helen"
The early Ripley of the Middle Ages comprised a few stone cottages and farms around this village green, a few dwellings further afield with rough roads and tracks leading to the nearby villages. Corn was ground at the Abbot's mill and in 1291 there were "two water-mills with fish ponds" in the town. Waingroves had a hostel for shelter to the Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Waingroves Hall still carries a carved stone of their Order. It was a quiet place disturbed only by such horrors as the Black Death of 1349.
Three vicars of Pentrich, Nicholas, Thomas de Pentriche and John de Warde were claimed by it but there are no records of how many parishioners died, though one may estimate no less than a third.
Pentrich Church was enlarged in the 14th century and when an inventory of the Church was drawn up in 1552, three bells were mentioned. Two of these inscribed 'Ave Maria Gratia Plena' and'Jesus' remain but, because of fears for the safety of the structure, they have stayed silent in recent decades.
FROM REFORMATION TO REVOLUTION
The Middle Ages came to an end with Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The three hundred years from the beginning of the 16th century to the Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century brought much change and Ripley's separation from Pentrich was an eventual result. The closure of Darley Abbey and the sale of its lands, in 1542, gave Ripley two "Lords of the Manor", the families of Cavendish and Zouche.
Pentrich remained part of the Cavendish (The Dukes of Devonshire) estate until the1950's. The Zouche family, however, quickly sold their Manor of Ripley and many farmers purchased their own holdings. An immediate result of this was the end of the open-field system of cultivation as the new owners fenced and hedged their land in 1622. They could also begin to exploit "the mines, delves and pits within or under" their fields. From this period remains one fine Elizabethan manor house - Padley Hall.
In the wills of the 17th century yeoman we gain a picture of stone-built house with upper and lower rooms, a parlour and kitchen, buttery and barn. All around the rooms the glint of brass and pewter, handsome beds, linen-presses and chests, spinning-wheels, cheese-presses and churns, tapestries and painted cloths. In addition to the picture of life gleaned from wills, Ripley and Pentrich are fortunate in possessing records of local government: Ripley from 1674 to 1773 and Pentrich from 1665 to 1846. Ripley now had administration separation from Pentrich, selecting its own Constables, Overseers of the Poor and Supervisors of the Highways and Churchwardens.
All property-owners and tenants could be expected to serve in office. Even women were chosen. The constable's duties largely consisted of ensuring the good behaviour of the village and occasionally authorising money to honour a national success:- "Spent in ale for Joy of the Victory against the Duke of Monmouth . . . 2s 6d (1684)."
The rates raised for poor relief were used to provide for the needy, for apprenticeships for poor children but the aspect of local government which involved every able man was the condition of the Highways. Every able bodied man had to give six days each year on the roads. Walls also came under the Supervisors of Highways and there are many references to the Thorn Well near the old thorn tree on Ripley Green. The Well which was found during modernisation of the Market Place was nearer the Town Hall than the Thorn Tree.
The relationship between Ripley and Pentrich continued with the joint churchwardens sharing their expenses: repair of the fabric, paying the bell-ringers, beating the bounds. Ripley people still attended Pentrich Church but, after the Restoration (1660), non-conformism gradually but firmly established itself. On June 14th, 1742, John Wesley visited Ripley. His journal notes: "I left Sheffield, and, after preaching at Ripley by the way, hastened to Donnington Park".
The most radical changes which began to shape the Ripley of today came with the Industrial Revolution. Our part in the national changes was the establishment of Butterley Ironworks in 1790. In 1793 the Cromford Canal was completed: Jessop and Outram of Butterley were the engineers. The Ironworks at Butterley was the first huge change in the local landscape and there were experiments in transport. Outram and Jessop made cast-iron rails and Brunton produced the 'mechanical traveller' which hauled trams along the new tramways. (The Brunton Walking Frame.) There are many working monuments to the work's expertise, most notably the roof of St Pancras Station and many bridges worldwide. The population of Ripley increased rapidly.
In 1800, it was just 1,000. Further new factories were opened, new mines sunk and new streets where red brick replaced stone often in hastily erected and ugly houses. Industrial change was far from all gain and unrest has its local manifestation in the Pentrich Revolution. Some half-starved and naive workers were incited by an agitator James Brandreth. Many were transported and the leaders were executed. The poet Shelley wrote a pamphlet on the injustice of the trial.
A desire to improve conditions gave Ripley a National School and the vicar of Pentrich declared that Ripley should have its own church and priest. The one remaining formal link betweenthe two communities was severed.
PARISH CHURCH TO PRESENT DAY
The All Saint's Church of 1821 was very different from today: a plain building without pillars or arches. The parish remained a joint one with Pentrich until 1855 when Ripley's population had reached 4,000 and the railway line to Derby was opened. There were at least five other religious buildings in the to - Wesleyan, Baptist, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian and Wesleyan Reform - but the Parish Church needed expansion - a new tower, a chancel and westward extension were added for the re-opening of 1861. The bells, five at first and later increased to eight, provided a peal popular with bell-ringers. The organ by Holditch has had two re-buildings, the latest in 1961. The Leslie Wright Memorial Church Hall, opened in 1956, gave a much needed social focus for Church activities.
The contrast between the urban community of Ripley and the rural one of Pentrich became more marked with the disappearance of Ripley Green and the appearance of the Market Place. The weekly Market changed to Saturday and, in more recent times, to the addition of a Friday market. Present day shoppers would be amazed at the Market before the Great War, continuing, as it did, until almost midnight with many shoppers not buying until the late night bargains were announced.
1867 was an important year for Ripley. The former methods of Local Government proved inappropriate and the first Local Board was elected and proceeded to make bye-laws, employ salaried officials, improve roads, light and water streets, improve sanitary conditions and levy rates. In 1894 the Urban District Council superseded the Local Board and Heage and Ambergate were incorporated in 1934.
The immediate post-war period saw a running down of local industry. The decline of coal mining and the closure of pits proved a challenge to the Council and this was overcome by greater diversity of occupation: The industrial estates on Heage Road, on the outskirts of the town at Codnor Gate and more recently, on Pease Hill have provided much less reliance on a large single industry. The County Police Headquarters also moved to Butterley Hall in 1970.
In the latest re-organisation of Local Government in 1974, Ripley Urban District was absorbed into Amber Valley District and Ripley Town Council succeeded the former Urban District Council in 1976. The Town Hall, built in 1880 as a solid statement of Ripley's pride in its independence, has remained as part of the new centralised Town Hall Headquarters complex of Amber Valley Borough council. The eye-catching Market Place complements the Town Hall complex. The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street has further enhanced the town centre for shoppers and visitors.The Derbyshire Constabulary Headquarters are housed in Butterley Hall in the Town and the new "A" Division of operations has been built alongside.
HEAGE
The village, which has no real centre and is scattered along the roads and lanes with some small estates of modern housing,is divided in two parts; Heage and Nether Heage. The main occupation of many of the original villagers would have been farming but there was a drift mine and Morley Park has been worked for coal and ironstone since 1372, the remains of bell-pits being uncovered during recent opencasting. There was some frame-work knitting and 'Tenter' Lane suggests there was also weaving and finishing cloth although tentering is also associated with milling. It is now home to several small businesses and two larger employers - L B Plastics and Bowmer & Kirkland.
The Parish Church of St Luke has a medieval East window, the only part of the original church to survive a ferocious storm in 1545, the chancel was built in 1645-1661 and the main part of the church in 1886.
Heage Colliery, was a large enterprise, possessing its own "Inclined Plan" railway link with the Cromford Canal, Morley Park Colliery - along with Marehay Main, also had such a link: Shaft mines also existed all over Heage.
The Ridge Way, (now Crich Lane) probably existed in Celtic times, Heage still houses a "Tumulus" besides this road, an ancient "Packhorse Way" crosses the place, heading directly for Ripley, the main "Stage Route" between Derby and Chesterfield, the old Turnpike, runs through the centre, passengers to York, who must have numbered among them many famous names in English history, passed through Heage.
The oldest domestic building in the village is Heage Hall Farm, once the home of a branch of the Chandos-Pole family. Crowtrees Farm was built in1450 with three good crook beams and was refurbished in1712. On Morley Park are the remains of two cold blast coke iron furnaces built by Francis Hurt in 1780 and the Mold Brothers in 1818, the older furnace was probably the first of its kind in Derbyshire.
The best known building is the windmill, a sandstone tower mill with an ogee cap and six sails and one of only two surviving, inteact windmills in the county. The Windmill has been restored to full working order and is now a popular tourist attraction.
AMBERGATE
Like Heage, Ambergate was added to the Ripley Urban District in 1934 and lies at the confluence of the Amber and the Derwent and gains its name partly from the river and partly from the turnpike toll gate through which travellers had to pass. It merits its description as the 'gateway to the Peak'for the woodlands, particularly Shining Cliff Wood and the Derwent Valley are an apt approach to the beauties that lie further north. Many railway enthusiasts will know this small village for, until 1968 when sadly two sides were destroyed. The station was at the time in the Guinness Book of Records as the only triangular station in the world.
Four means of transport ran parallel through Ambergate: canal,railway, road (A6) and river. The Ha'penny bridge and 15th century stained glass fragments in the church are small but charming points of interest.