Occasionally Asked Questions

Q. Did Ripley Castle in Yorkshire belong to the Ripleys?

A. Ripley Castle (in the village of Ripley, Yorkshire) has been the ancestral seat of the Ingilby family since the fourteenth century, when, through marriage, they inherited the manor house with its banqueting hall and chapel. A fortified Gatehouse was added in 1468. Who built the manor? According to Sir Thomas Ingilby (2006), the Ripley family never owned or occupied Ripley Castle.[1] He maintains that the manor mentioned in the medieval charters is Catton (now Cayton), a remote and even today inaccessible area of land one mile north east of Ripley Castle and village. While my own reading of the charters (in translation) does not support this conclusion, the point is moot: after 1300 or so, the de Ripleys were unconnected to the manor of Ripley or its castle.

Q. Is there a Ripley coat of arms?

RipleyA. Yes, and no. A number of individuals named Ripley have applied for and received armorial bearings, including persons resident in Hull, Harrogate and (in the nineteenth century) Rawdon. There is also evidence of an ancient crest and arms linked to the de Ripley family of Ripley, Yorkshire. There is no indication, however, that the Ripleys of Ingleby Greenhow were entitled to arms, or that they had ancestors who were entitled to arms.

Q. Are there any of our relatives still residing in Yorkshire?

A. It is likely, though of course we have been 'gone' for two hundred and thirty years. Henry and William Ripley, brothers of Robert Ripley of Nappan, stayed in Yorkshire and raised families. Thomas Ripley, the son of our Robert Ripley, also stayed in England when the rest of the family emigrated.

Q. Are we related to the American (New England) Ripleys?

A. There is no evidence to support this. On April 26, 1638, the ship Diligent of 350 tons, set sail from the mouth of the Thames, east of London, England, bound for a new life in a new land. On August 10, 1638, that ship arrived in New England, near Boston. On board were 133 people, most neighbors from Old Hingham in Norfolk. One of these was William Ripley, who is described as being of Wymondham, Norfolk. He arrived with his wife and four children. The oldest child was Mary at age 22. Next was Phebe, 20 years old. Then came the two boys, John age 17 and Abraham, age 14. From this small family, 'the greatest number of Ripley's now in [America] have descended.' Some assert that Abraham Ripley was born in Ingleby Greenhow in 1624, but as there is no entry in the parish register this should be discounted.

Q. Is Robert Ripley of 'Believe It Or Not' fame a member of our family?

A. There is no evidence of this. Robert Leroy Ripley, artist, author, and radio broadcaster, was born on Christmas Day, 1893, in Santa Rosa, California. A talented, self-taught artist, Ripley sold his first drawing to Life magazine when he was 14. He was also a natural athlete who longed for a career in baseball, but his dreams of pitching in the Big Leagues were shattered when he broke his arm while playing his first professional game.

Q. Where does the name Ripley come from?

A. Ripley means 'the woodland of the Hyrppes', or 'the meadow belonging to Hyrp'. The origin of this Anglo-Saxon tribal name and its exact tribal boundaries are unknown, but the area of settlement may have covered Yorkshire and the East Midlands, circa 500-1000 AD.

Q. Are we descended from the Hyrppes?

A. We may have derived our name from this Ango-Saxon tribe, but there is not a scrap of evidence that modern persons with the surname Ripley are descendants of the Hyrppe.

Q. Was a Ripley knighted at the Battle of Crécy?

A. Yes. The Battle of Crécy, was fought on Saturday, August 26, 1346. It is remembered as the great English victory of the Hundred Years War, one which demonstrated the superiority of English archers over crossbowmen and armoured knights. Bernard de Ripley, of Ripley, Yorkshire was one of a number of English soldiers knighted on the battlefield that day.