Ripponden

Ripponden is a village and civil parish on the River Ryburn near Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Historically it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its population was 6,412 at the time of the 2001 Census,^[1] and 7,421 in 2011.^[2]

Ripponden
Ripponden
Ripponden Show map of Calderdale Ripponden Location within West Yorkshire Show map of West Yorkshire
Population	7,421 (2011 census)
OS grid reference	SE035195
Civil parish	Ripponden
Metropolitan borough	Calderdale
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SOWERBY BRIDGE
Postcode district	HX6
Dialling code	01422
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Calder Valley
List of places UK England Yorkshire 53.672°N 1.946°W / 53.672; -1.946

Ripponden is the main settlement in a small group of villages (Barkisland, Ripponden, Rishworth and Soyland) whose citizens are represented on Ripponden Parish Council.^[3] The area is a substantial part of the Ryburn Ward, itself part of Calderdale metropolitan borough.^[4]

Ripponden and its villages were formerly served by the Rishworth branch line from Sowerby Bridge; Ripponden and Barkisland railway station closed to passengers in 1929 and the line was closed completely in 1958.^[5]

The area is of archaeological note as it is rich in neolithic and Bronze Age remains.^[6] At nearby Ringstone Edge can be found a small stone circle.^[7]

The Beehive Inn

Ripponden is the terminus of the annual Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival.^[8]

The village is on the route of the Calderdale Way, a 50-mile (80 km) circular walk around the hills and valleys of Calderdale.^[9]

Ripponden Junior & Infant School has a capacity of 240 children ages 4 - 11.

The Old Bridge Inn^[10] in the village is the home of an annual pork pie competition.^[11][12][13] The Old Bridge Inn is a Grade II listed building and is one of the oldest pubs in Yorkshire; its construction is dated to 1307.^[14][15] The Old Bridge, or Waterloo Bridge, near the Inn is on the old packhorse road through the village and is also known as the Packhorse Bridge.^[16]

On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France, from York to Sheffield, passed through the village. On leaving Ripponden at the 112.5 kilometres (69.9 mi) point, riders undertook the third climb of the stage, the Category 3 Côte de Ripponden. It was 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) long with an average gradient of 8.6%. The first rider over the top to claim two points in the King of the Mountains competition was Cyril Lemoine of Cofidis. The other point available was claimed by David De La Cruz Melgarejo.^[17]

Notable people

• James Walton, inventor and industrialist, born in Ripponden in 1803.^[18]
• Sir Norman Howard Bottomley, Air Chief Marshal of the RAF and Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command in 1945, was born in Ripponden in 1891.^[19]
• Nobel Prize–winning American physicist Prof Richard Feynman was a regular visitor to the village in the 1960s–1980s, with his third wife Gweneth Hogarth, who was born locally. He also spent significant time in nearby Mill Bank.^[20]

Sport

The village has a football team Ryburn United FC, they are a Charter Standard Community football club, and provide football for all ages, their grounds are on Ripponden Wood Playing Fields.^[21] Stones Cricket Club play near the village and are members of the Halifax Cricket League.

See also

• Listed buildings in Ripponden

References

1. "Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Calderdale". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
2. "Civil parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
3. "Welcome". Ripponden Parish Council. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
4. "Ryburn ward map – Resources". data.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
5. Burgess, Neil (2014). The lost railways of Yorkshire's West Riding (1 ed.). Catrine: Stenlake. p. 66. ISBN 9781840336573.
6. "Relics are found in Ripponden reservoir". Halifax Courier. Johnstone Publishing. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016. An exciting discovery made at a reservoir in Ripponden has given a new insight into the lives of prehistoric civilizations in the area
7. Bennett, Paul (9 September 2009). "Ringstone Edge Cairn Circle". The Northern Antiquarian. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016. If we visit this site today, all we are left with is a scattered mass (or perhaps that should that be 'mess') of many hundreds of stones
8. "Rushbearing Festival is one of a kind". Halifax Courier. Johnstone Publishing. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016. The weekend drew to a close as the procession arrived in Ripponden
9. Hannon, Paul (2001). Calderdale way (2 ed.). Hillside. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-870141-71-0.
10. Historic England. "The Bridge Inn (542485)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 12 May 2016.
11. "Pork Pie Battle Hits Ripponden". Porkpieclub.net. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
12. "Events & Festivals". Visitcalderdale.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
13. "Ripponden pub hosts 23rd annual pork pie competition". Halifax Courier. Johnstone Publishing. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2016. Professional and amateur pork pie enthusiasts battled it out in an annual pork pie competition
14. "Home – The Old Bridge Inn – Pub in Ripponden, Halifax". The Old Bridge Inn. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
15. Historic England. "THE OLD BRIDGE INN, Ripponden (1232389)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
16. Historic England. "Ripponden Old Bridge (47498)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 12 May 2016.
17. "Tour de France Stage 2". Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
18. "Newtown. The Late Mr. James Walton". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 30 November 1883.
19. "1933 Who's Who in British Aviation: Name B". gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
20. Feynman, Richard P. (2005). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465023714.
21. "Ryburn United Football Club :: THE Club to Play For". Retrieved 16 April 2023.

External links

• Media related to Ripponden at Wikimedia Commons
• Ripponden Parish Council
• Ryburn Ward 2004 population statistics and maps
• Ripponden In Bloom
• St. Bartholomew's Church Ripponden
• Ryburn Valley History Society
• Sowerby Bridge Chronicle newspaper website