Ribby-with-Wrea is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
just west of
Kirkham, in the
Borough of Fylde
The Borough of Fylde is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lancashire, England. It covers part of the Fylde plain, after which it is named. The council's headquar ...
and ceremonial county of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, England. It had a population of 1,489 in 2001,
reducing to 1,373 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes Ribby Hall and the village of
Wrea Green.
For local government purposes, the parish forms part of Wrea Green with Westby ward. For Westminster elections it is part of the
Fylde constituency.
Ribby Hall
Joseph Hornby, a Kirkham merchant, bought Ribby manor in the north-east of the parish from his uncle Richard Hornby, and built a mansion called Ribby Hall in the 1790s. The
stuccoed two-storey house has three full-height semicircular bay windows; its north (entrance) front and east (garden) front have seven bays, and a further three-bay wing completes the U-shaped plan. There are various later extensions to the west. The house was designated as
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
in 1967. The grounds have mature woodland and an ornamental pond.
William Duckworth leased the house from the Hornby family in 1904, then bought the house and grounds in 1916. Profits from his Manchester company Duckworth & Co. (maker of supplies for food and drink manufacturers) enabled him to refurbish the house and redesign the gardens. After the Duckworth family left the property, the hall was used by a school for the deaf until 1969, and for much of the 1970s the grounds were the home of the
Royal Lancashire Show. The house was divided into flats in 1982.
The site was then used as a caravan park until it was bought in a derelict state by the Harrison family in 1994. Planning permission was granted for 175 cottages, 350 holiday homes and a hotel, and the site – known as Ribby Hall Village – has been further developed, adding holiday lodges and a second hotel with a health club. In 2019, the site employed 600 people.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Ribby-with-Wrea
References
External links
Ribby with Wrea Parish Council
Civil parishes in Lancashire
Geography of the Borough of Fylde
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