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Coordinates: 53°03′01″N 1°24′28″W / 53.0502°N 1.4077°W
| Ripley | |
 Nottingham Road, Ripley |
|
  Ripley
Ripley shown within Derbyshire |
|
| Population | 21,097 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Amber Valley |
| Shire county | Derbyshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | RIPLEY |
| Postcode district | DE5 |
| Dialling code | 01773 |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Amber Valley |
| List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire | |
Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire in England.
Contents |
Earliest History
Not much information is available as to when Ripley was founded, but it existed at the time of the Domesday Book, 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"
In the Middle Ages, Ripley was just a few stone cottages and farms around the village green with a few dwellings further afield. Corn was ground at the mill owned by the Abbot of Darley and in 1291 there were "two water-mills with fish ponds" in Ripley.
Industry
The Ripley area has been industrialised since the late 18th century.
One of the earliest companies to take advantage of mineral resources around Ripley was the Butterley Company. The company was formed in 1790 and still survives to the day in the guise of Butterley Engineering, Butterley Brick and Butterley Aggregates (now all separate companies). Over the last 200 years the companies have been a steelworks, coal mining, quarrying, railway, foundry, brickworks. One of the early, and most well known, examples of the work of the company includes the graceful arched roof of St. Pancras Station in London, recently restored to great critical acclaim as an international rail terminal. A recent major Butterley achievement was the design and construction of the Falkirk Wheel, a spectacular canal boat lift funded by the Millennium Commission.
Other points of interest
Constructed under the premises of the Butterley Company is the 2966 yard long Butterley Tunnel for the Cromford Canal.[1] The central section of the canal is currently disused, but a charitable fund has been formed to reopen the canal.
Ripley is also home to the Midland Railway - Butterley (formerly the Midland Railway Centre) a railway preservation trust, dedicated to preserving locomotives, rolling stock and other items related to the Midland Railway.
Ripley was also at one time the northern terminus of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramways Company.
Ripley is home to local radio station Amber Sound FM. A community radio station awarded a five year broadcast license in June 2008, Amber Sound is based on Unicorn Business Park just off Wellington Street.
The Headquarters of the Derbyshire Constabulary is located on the outskirts of Ripley at Butterley Hall.
The Methodist Church is reputed to be the oldest Church in town and is still active today. At the peak of the movement there were 5 Methodist Churches in the town, but over the years they have combined.[2] Ripley Methodist Church is situated in Wood Street Ripley. All Saints' Anglican Church was built in 1821 and is situated, appropriately enough, on Church Street.
Ripley Town Hall on the Market Place was originally built in 1880. It was greatly extended and remodelled by the Amber Valley Borough Council to form that Council's Headquarters in the 1990s.
According to research and the analysis of names in Britain in 2006, Ripley has the highest proportion of people of ethnic-English origin.[3] Of Ripley's inhabitants, 88.5 percent have an English-ethnic background.
Places and villages within Ripley
- Amber Heights
- Greenhillocks
- Marehay
- Peasehill
- Waingroves
- Nuttals Park
- Greenwich
- The Elms
- Codnor
- Porterhouse
- Hammersmith
Notable residents
- Bombardier Charles Stone who was awarded the VC was born here[4].
- Barnes Wallis, inventor of the 'Bouncing bomb' lived for a time in Ripley and now has one of the town's parks named after him. The house where he was born is now marked with a blue plaque.
Education
Primary Schools
- Ripley Infant School, Kirk Close, DE5 3RY
- Ripley Junior School, Poplar Avenue, DE5 3PN
- St Johns C of E Primary School, Dannah Street
- Lons Infant School, Tavistock Avenue
- Waingroves Primary School, Waingroves Road
- Codnor Community Primary School, Whitegates
Nearby Secondary Schools
- Ripley Mill Hill School, Peasehill
- Swanwick Hall School, Swanwick Hill, Swanwick (2 miles north on B6179)
- John Flamsteed School, Derby Road, Denby (2.5 miles south on B6179)
Other
- Ripley Nursery School, Sandham Lane
- Clowns Day Nursery, Cromford Road
- Clowns Day Nursery, Butterley Park, A610
References
- ^ Robin Witter (7 October 2002). "Butterley Tunnel - The Illustrated Report". the Web Site for The Friends of the Cromford Canal. http://www.cromfordcanal.org.uk/tunnel.html.
- ^ Ripley Methodist Church
- ^ Ethnicity news at Yahoo
- ^ Derbyshire at VictoriaCross.org Accessed June 2007
External links
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