Ripley Castle is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

14th-century country house in Ripley, North Yorkshire, England, north of

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa wate ...

. The house is built of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar with grey slate and stone slate roofs. A central two-storey block is flanked by a tower at one end and a three-storey wing at the other. A gatehouse which stands some to the south of the main buildings is also Grade I listed, whilst the two weirs over Ripley Beck (and the bridges that straddle them) are grade II listed and the grounds and gardens are also listed at grade II. The castle has been the seat of the

Ingilby baronets There have been three baronetcies created for members of the Ingilby/Ingleby family, one in the Baronetage of England, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The latter title is extant while the o ...

for centuries.

History

Sir Thomas Ingleby (c. 1290–1352) married the heiress Edeline Thwenge in 1308/9 and acquired the Ripley Castle estate with its medieval manor house as her

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

. His oldest son, also called Thomas (1310–1369), saved the king from being gored by a

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

whilst on a hunting expedition and was knighted in return with the boar's head symbol as his crest. His descendant Sir John Ingleby (1434–1499) inherited the estate at the age of five from his father William and built the castle gatehouse, before becoming a monk at Mount Grace Priory, near Northallerton, and later the

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of a ...

. His son Sir William Ingleby was raised by his deserted mother. Sir John's grandson, Sir William Ingleby (1518–1578), was

High Sheriff of Yorkshire The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere ...

in 1564–65. Sir William added the tower to the building in 1548. Two of his sons were fervent Catholics on the run from the authorities.

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

, a priest, was caught, sentenced and

hanged, drawn and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ...

in York in 1586; David escaped to die on the Continent. Sir William Ingleby (1546–1618) was knighted by

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until h ...

when the king was en route to his coronation as James I of England in 1603. Later that year he captured one of the fugitive brothers of the Earl of Gowrie at

Kirkby Malzeard Kirkby Malzeard () is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. There has been a creamery in the village making Wensleydale cheese for almost 100 years, first owned by Mrs Mason, then Kit Calvert, of Hawe ...

. In 1605 he was involved in the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...

, allowing the plotters to stay at Ripley whilst they procured horses. One of the conspirators, Robert Winter was his nephew. Ingleby was arrested and charged with treason, but acquitted. Sir William Ingleby (1594–1652) supported Charles I during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, and was made Baronet Ingleby in 1642. He fought at Marston Moor in 1644, when the King's forces were totally routed, making his escape to Ripley and hiding in a priest hole while

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

billeted himself there for the night. On the death of the 4th Baronet in 1772 the baronetcy became extinct but was revived in 1781 for his illegitimate son John (1758–1815). Ripley Castle 1

Sir John undertook a major rebuild of the castle in 1783–86 by William Belwood but got into debt and fled overseas in 1794 for several years. During this time the estate was managed by its long-serving steward, Ralph Robinson, who sold timber from the estate to raise money. Sir John was High Sheriff for 1782–83 and MP for East Retford from 1790 to 1796. His son

William William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

(1783–1854) was a great eccentric, drinker and gambler and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for East Retford from 1807 to 1812 and High Sheriff in 1821. He adopted the surname of Amcotts-Ingilby (his mother was Elizabeth Amcotts) and demolished and rebuilt the village of Ripley, complete with a Continental-style hôtel de ville. Having no heir he left the Ripley estate to his first cousin, Henry John Ingilby. The baronetcy was extinguished a second time. Henry was created 1st Baronet Ingilby of the third creation in 1866. Ripley then descended to the present 6th Baronet. The castle is still privately owned, now by the 6th Baronet and his wife, Emma, Lady Ingilby, but open to the public for guided tours. In October 2021, the castle was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection from the government's

Culture Recovery Fund The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had be ...

. The Yorkshire Television children's series ''

The Flaxton Boys ''The Flaxton Boys'' is a British historical children's television series set in the West Riding of Yorkshire and covering a timespan of almost a century. The series was made by Yorkshire Television and was broadcast on ITV between 1969 and 19 ...

'' (1969–1973) used Ripley Castle as the fictional Flaxton Hall. It was used in the 1976

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film '' Escape from the Dark'', as the home of Lord Harrogate, played by

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his d ...

. The

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced t ...

series ''

Gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate ( saltpeter) ...

'' (2017) used the castle as a location.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 54.0410, -1.5680, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire Country houses in North Yorkshire Grade I listed houses *