Local finds of flints, bronze age artefacts and the Ockham horde indicate settlement prior to written sources. The name Ripley apparently means a copse or clearing in woodland. It is a roadside village possibly indicative of Roman origin.
Ripley was originally part of Send and only became a separate parish in 1878. In 960-2 Send appears as Sendan in an Anglo Saxon charter. In 1189-99. Ripley was first mentioned in a deed of Richard 1st when a chapel of Ripelia was given to the Augustinians for their priory ‘de Novo Loco’ (Newark). That chapel, built circa 1160, is now the chancel of Ripley church.
In 1360 the road through Ripley is shown on Gough’s map, the first ever English road map. From approximately 1200AD until 1539 was the monastic period when Newark Priory must have dominated life in the village. Henry III granted a charter for a fair to be held on July 22nd, the feast of Mary Magdalen but it is not clear how long this lasted. Interestingly the current Summer Event is held on the nearest Saturday to July 22nd. The fair was held on the Green which is considered to be the largest village green in England. The earliest houses were timber-framed with crown posts and at least three exist to this day. Saffron Cottage in Rose Lane has been dated by dendrochronology to the end on the 14th century.
After the dissolution of the monasteries the priors of Newark were pensioned off or found other ecclesiastical posts. However Ripley did not decline, far from it as it was on the road to Portsmouth. Coaches would have stopped at the various Ripley inns such as the Talbot and the George Inn. A legacy from this period can be seen in the names of the Ripley pubs: The Anchor, The Ship, The Jovial Sailor. Timber-framed houses gradually gave way to brick.
English roads were in a bad condition and in 1749 a Turnpike Act was passed to improve the road from Kingston to Petersfield. There was a turnpike just past the Jovial Sailor. As the road improved, the time for travel between Portsmouth to London reduced. Ripley became a post town and mail was brought to the Talbot to be put on the mail coach and landlords could be fined for not having fresh horses available. The mid-eighteenth century saw the foundation of Ripley Cricket Club, thought to be the second oldest in the world. A local man, Lumpy Stevens, became the most accurate bowler in the country. When he bowled between the stumps (two stumps) without dislodging the bails, it was agreed to introduce a third stump.
Ripley’s significance as a thoroughfare reduced in Victorian times. In 1838 the railway arrived in Woking and in 1859 was extended to Portsmouth. The coach trade declined and the post was now taken to Woking to be transported by rail. However in 1869 the road through Ripley was given a macadam surface which turned out to be ideal for cyclists. From then until the early part of the twentieth century Ripley became ‘The most famous highway in the world, ‘The Mecca of all good cyclists’, in the opinion of Lord Bury (later Earl of Albemarle).
From 1900 on Ripley has been dominated by the motor car. Tea shops abounded as motorists would take a run out to Ripley or take a break on their way to the coast. In 1975 the situation had some temporary relief when the Ripley by-pass was completed. However the additional traffic in recent years has once again led to a lot of cars coming through the village, many en route to Junction 10 of the M25 (opened in 1984).
Two other personalities of note:
Kenneth White the pharmacist during WWII is thought to have been the first man to make penicillin for civilian use – at first unofficially and later with permission.
And Ripley’s most famous son, Eric Clapton – known as slowhand.