RIPLEY, a chapelry in the parish of PENTRICH,
hundred of MORLESTON-and-LITCHURCH, county of
DERBY, 3 miles (S. by W.) from Alfreton, containing
1635 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy,
in the archdeaconry of Derby, and diocese of Lichfield
and Coventry, endowed with £2C200 parliamentary grant,
and in the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire, by
whose liberality, and that of others, aided by a grant
of £375 from the Incorporated Society for building
and enlarging churches, &c., the present commodious
chapel was erected in 1820, and consecrated in 1821.
There are places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists
and Unitarians. A free school, built in 1819, is supported
by voluntary contributions, and attended by
about thirty-five .children. At Hartshay, in this township,
are extensive collieries. Ripley was anciently a
market-town, chartered about the reign of Henry III.,
and is still a nourishing place. An urn, containing
a number of coins of Gallienus, Carausius, Victorinus,
and others, was discovered here in 1730.