Ripley is a village and

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 ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, a few miles north of

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

on the

A61 road The A61 is a major trunk road in England connecting Derby and Thirsk in North Yorkshire by way of Alfreton, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. The road is closely paralleled by the M1 motorway ...

towards

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

. The village name derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and is believed to mean wood of the ''Hrype'' or Ripon people. Until 1974 it was part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the

Borough of Harrogate The Borough of Harrogate was a local government district with borough status in North Yorkshire, England, from 1974 to 2023. Its council was based in the town of Harrogate, but it also included surrounding settlements, including the cathedral ...

; it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

History

The village and castle are privately owned. A castle dating from the 15th century,

Ripley Castle Ripley Castle is a Grade I listed 14th-century country house in Ripley, North Yorkshire, England, north of Harrogate. The house is built of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar with grey slate and stone slate roofs. A central two-storey block ...

, has been the home of the Ingilby family for 700 years. The present owner is Sir Thomas Ingilby, 6th Baronet (see Ingilby Baronets), the 28th generation. The castle, which has a

priest hole A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built in England or Wales during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. Following the accession of Queen Elizabeth I to the throne in 1558, there were several Catholic plots designed to remo ...

, is open for public tours. The landscaped castle grounds and ornamental lakes are also open to the public. Ripley has 55 Grade II Listed buildings and two that are Grade I Listed: Ripley Castle and the "Gatehouse Approximately 80 Metres South of Ripley Castle". A 19th century Ingilby tore down the old village, except for the castle and the church, and modelled it after an Alsatian village with Ripley Town Hall designed in the style of a French "hôtel de ville". In March 2017, the village was named number 17 out of the 20 Best Villages in Britain to live in (one of only two in the

North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...

Transport

There have been two railway stations serving Ripley, now both long closed. From 1848 to 1962 the village was served by Ripley station, renamed Nidd Bridge station in 1862, on the Leeds-Northallerton railway, 1 mile east of the village. From 1862 to 1951 the village was served by Ripley station, renamed Ripley Valley station in 1875, on the

Nidd Valley Railway The Nidd Valley Railway was a long single-track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. Built by the North Eastern Railway, it ran from Ripley Junction, on the Harrogate to Ripon Line, to ...

, 0.5 mile south of the village. The village is now served by

Harrogate bus route 36 The 36 is a bus service operated by The Harrogate Bus Company, which links Leeds, Harewood and Harrogate with Killinghall, Ripley and Ripon. It is operated by a fleet of high-specification Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TL double-deck vehic ...

, linking Ripley to Ripon, Harrogate and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. There is a cycle and foot path between Ripley and Harrogate called the

Nidderdale Greenway The Nidderdale Greenway is a path that runs between Harrogate and Ripley in North Yorkshire, England. It uses a former railway line that ran between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge as its course. The route connects to other cycle paths including t ...

, which uses part of the old route of the Nidd Valley Railway. It is part of the

National Cycle Route 67 National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 67 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Long Whatton to Northallerton. The route is in length and is open but with sections missing. History Many sections of the route are Railway Paths including ex Gr ...

References

External links

Ripley Castle

Ingilby History Site
{{authority control Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Villages in North Yorkshire

History

Transport

See also

References

External links