Gatehouse Approximately 80 Metres South of Ripley Castle

Details

SE 2860-2960
8/102
8.3.52

RIPLEY
RIPLEY PARK
Gatehouse approximately 80 metres south of Ripley Castle
(formerly listed as Gatehouse at Ripley Castle)

GV
I

Gatehouse. Medieval, with alterations in the C16, and 1788-90 by William
Belwood for Sir John Ingilby. Ashlar, lead roof to central bay, grey slate
roofs to left and right. Wooden gates with cast-iron furniture. A 3-storey
central entrance bay flanked by lower 2-storey, single-bay guardroom and
keepers lodge. South front: plinth. The central bay has a tall pointed
carriage arch with double cavetto moulding and barred stops; the double
gates are decorated with ribs and trefoil arcading and have a pair of boar's
head handles. To left of the gates is a pedestrian entrance: the board door
decorated as main gates; the surround is double chamfered with 4-centred
arch, which has quatrefoils overlying the chamfering of the door-head and
shields in the spandrels. Above the main gate is a limestone plaque with
the Ingilby coat of arms and above again a cavetto moulded flat-headed 3-
light window with cinquefoiled lights. Bay to left has a cavetto moulded
single-light window to ground floor, centre and a plain chamfer to the light
above to left, both with iron bars. Bay to right has an inserted square 4-
pane window to ground floor left; a 4-pane frame in plain chamfered light to
first-floor centre and a narrow window to far right. Hollow chamfered
string course and crenellated parapets to centre bay, the flanking bays with
slightly projecting crenellated parapets. There is a straight joint between
the side parapets and the central bay which reaches to first-floor window
lintel level. Rear: a wide chamfered 4-centred arch to the central bay; a
flat-headed window of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights above. Left bay has a
small plain chamfered window to each floor; a board door in 4-centred arch
to recessed bay left. Attached brick outbuilding not of special interest.
Right bay: a board door in deeply-chamfered 4-centred arched doorway with 2-
piece lintel, right; narrow window to left and first floor centre; a double-
chamfered first-floor doorway with iron grill, left. Gatehouse interior:
the central bay has a groined vault over the entrance; the right-hand bay
has a narrow door decorated with Gothick tracery in a 4-centred arched
opening with deep chamfers and tall pyramidal stops; the words "Parlez au
Suisse" are cut into the lintel. The left-hand bay has stone corbels at
first-floor level on the east wall, the south wall thickness is reduced by
half at the same level and the west (outer) wall is of roughly dressed
stone; the flooring is missing. 2 tiers of brick and stone shelves are
built against the east wall, formerly a wine store. A straight flight
wooden stair against the north wall reaches the lower steps of a spiral
stair inside the long opening with grill. The spiral stair has been rebuilt
at this point and may formerly have linked with an external, stair or ladder
through the grilled opening. The room over the gateway is reached from the
spiral stair and contains blocked fireplace against the east wall with, to
left, an altered, deeply-chamfered doorway with pyramidal stops and a flight
of steps down through the thickness of the wall to a door into the first
floor of the right-hand bay; the ceiling is composed of 3 cambered cross
beams resting on cast-iron brackets, with chamfered ridge beam and purlins;
the floor (over the vault) is mortared. A steep stone stair in the
thickness of the wall in the north-west corner gives access to the roof; the
central bay has a shallow-pitched roof; the outer bays have hipped roofs but
the outer end of the hips have been removed, indicating that the gable walls
have been rebuilt. Interior of right-hand bay not seen at resurvey. The
shields over the pedestrian gate are thought to represent the arms of Sir
John Ingilby (1433-57) and his wife, Margery Strangeways. A painting of the
gatehouse c1780 shows steeply-pitched gabled roofs to the flanking bays
before Belwood's alterations. The inscription over the door to the keeper's
lodge (right-hand bay) was carved in c1844 for Sir William Amcotts Ingilby
who is thought to have brought Swiss or French servants back with him from
the continent. Sir Thomas Ingilby, personal communication. J Low, "William
Belwood, Architect and Surveyor", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 56, 1984,
p 151.

Listing NGR: SE2826560529

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

331608

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Yorkshire Archaeological Journal in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. 56, (1984), 151

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 32 North Yorkshire,

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