Ripley is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

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 ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England. It is centred southeast of

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, northeast of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

and southwest of London. Neighbouring villages Send and Send Marsh to the South-West and Ockham to the East have fewer shopping facilities.

Geography

Lying on the main road from London to Portsmouth (from the 1930s referred to as the A3), Ripley was the

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

for the whole area (including

) from 1813 to 1865. With the coming of the railway to what was then Woking Common in 1838, Ripley's importance diminished, and Woking became its post town in 1865. As motor traffic increased during the 1960s and the 1970s, the Portsmouth Road at Ripley became a notorious bottleneck, relieved by the building of the Ripley bypass in 1976. The A3 was renamed the B2215, and what has always been a major

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

was expanded into six lanes north of Guildford, bypassing Send and Ripley.

History

The village has existed since Norman times – the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

of the church of St. Mary Magdalen shows construction of circa 1160 there and supporting feet of fines and ecclesiastical records mention the village at the time. Ripley's sister village of Send to the south-west was the governing parish over the village for over 700 years until 1878 when they became two separate ecclesiastical parishes; they became separate

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishe ...

in 1933.

Amenities

The village includes a

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

, the Talbot Inn, which dates back to 1453, as well as The Clockhouse (formerly Drake's) restaurant, which has been awarded a Michelin star and 3 AA rosettes. The Anchor, on Ripley High Street, has 2 AA rosettes and is listed as a Michelin Guide Restaurant. The village high street includes two small supermarkets, cobblers and a bakery. The other pubs in the village are the Jovial Sailor on the western outskirts, The Ship Inn, The Seven Stars and The Half Moon. Ripley has one private school, Ripley Court Preparatory School. The Ripley Church of England primary school is now shut.

Ripley Farmers' Market

Ripley has a monthly Farmers' Market on the second Saturday of each month, from 9am until 1pm. The market consists of, on average, 45 stalls.

Notable buildings

The village church of St Mary Magdalen has a fine Norman

and is a Grade II*

listed building 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, Hi ...

. Among the more than 20

s and cottages in the village are Pinnocks Café the Ship Inn and Ye Old Sweet Shoppe, J Hartley Antiques, Sage Antiques (Green Cottage), the Clock House and the Old Pharmacy. This last building is a historical place of interest with a

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

located outside commemorating the production of

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...

for the first time in the UK and possibly the world, for civilian use, by Kenneth White in 1944. Cedar House and Tudor House (one joint property) is another listed building,

In popular culture

Ripley is mentioned in

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' novels ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' and '' The Wheels of Chance''. The

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

short story "The Naval Treaty" includes a setting in Ripley.

Famous residents

Ripley is the birthplace of the rock/blues guitarist

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

is a long-term resident of Ripley and runs local recording studios Black Barn Studios.

Sport

Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

has been a popular sport in the village for 200 years and is played on the Green.

Cycling

Cycling heritage

In the 1870s, cycling also became a popular activity in the South of England and Ripley was a convenient distance from London so that many cyclists would stop there for a break at the Anchor Inn. Sisters Annie and Harriet Dibble encouraged the cyclists so much that, in some years in the following decade, their visitors' book was signed with over 7,000 names.

Cycling routes today

The

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

road races started at The Mall in central London, passed Richmond and extended into Surrey to the south via

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

, Byfleet, West Byfleet, Ripley,

West Horsley West Horsley is a semi-rural village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. It lies on the A246 road, A246, and south of the M25 motorway, M25 and the A3 road, A3. Its civil parishes in England, civil parish ascends to an ancient ...

and

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

then returned to The Mall via

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

, Oxshott,

and

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

. Since then the Surrey 100 sportive and race have come through the village each July.

Bonfire

Since the 1930s a bonfire has been held on the Green to celebrate

Guy Fawkes Night Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration list of minor secular observances#November, observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and firewor ...

. It is a major local event with several thousand attending to see the bonfire, fireworks and funfair.

Surrounds

This area has a number of short and long walks. Ripley Green is an integral part of the community and can be accessed from Newark Lane and the High Street. There is a village common and small woods which are surrounded by farmland. Walkers can walk down the

River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton, Hampshire, Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Onc ...

from here and see views of Newark Priory.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%. The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

References

Published sources

McCann, Clare (editor) (2009) 'Memories of War' (Send and Ripley History Society, )

External links

Ripley Parish Council

Ripley Village Website

Ripley Village Community and Culture
{{authority control Villages in Surrey Borough of Guildford Civil parishes in Surrey