RIPLEY CASTLE AND BOARS HEAD INN
Save a King get a Hotel - Inn Near the Dales
"Sometimes you eat the boar…sometimes the boar eats you."
King
Edward III of England spent a lot of time in North
Yorkshire, having both a military and romantic attachment to the area.
He first met his wife Philippa of Hainaut at York when he was a teenager,
during a campaign against the Scots, and for a wedding endowment gave
her Knaresborough Castle near Harrogate to the east of York (see Knaresborough
Castle Ruins). While on a visit to Yorkshire, during a
boar hunt the king fell from his
horse
and was about to be gored by the nasty beasty when he was saved by a
local fellow, Thomas Ingilby of Ripley. Edward rewarded his rescuer with
a knighthood. But that was not Sir Thomas Ingilby’s only luck,
he had managed to marry himself to a lady with a castle.
Ripley
Castle, nestled in acres of woodland and gardens is located on the
edge of the beautiful rolling
verdant
hills of the Yorkshire Dales and the Nidder River Valley,
and while not a major player in English history, has had more than its
share of historical curiosities. Several relatives and 
friends
of the Ingilby’s were
central to the Gunpowder Rebellion of 1605 led by York's local
bad boy Guy Fawkes (see Tower
of London), and Oliver Cromwell
found
his proud Protestant self held at gunpoint in the castle’s library
by royalist Lady "Trooper" Jane Ingilby. Bullet pock marks
can still be found in the castle walls from the attack by Cromwell’s
forces. The castle contains some original arms from the Battle of Marston
Moor
and a secret
hiding
chamber in a wall that wasn’t discovered until the 1960s.
The
Boar's Head Inn
In
the 1800s Sir William Ingliby decided his castle needed a
village, so he had designed and built his idea of the ideal country
village, which now surrounds the castle environs, making for a quite
unique
little town all of a style. Sir William's town at Ripley once had
three drinking houses including a coaching inn. In 1991, the current
lord of the manor, the present Sir Thomas and Lady Emma Ingilby, who
still live in the castle with the family, refurbished the coaching
inn and named it the Boar’s Head after the famed legend of the
founding of the family and the symbol of family crest.
The
Boar’s Head Inn is listed as one of the Great Inns of Britain,
and an ideal romantic getaway to the past, its rooms furnished by Lady
Ingilby with original furniture from the family attics, giving the
hotel the feel of staying in someone’s cared for home. The common rooms
are also decorated with family portraits and Sir Thomas’ book
on Stately Homes can be found on the lounge coffee
table. The Inn has two restaurants, a fine dining menu in the main
dining
room
and a late night
menu in the traditional pub bar taking up a former stable, with the
original horse stalls providing quiet
booths. And for troublemakers,
the village stocks are located in the parking square right out the
inn’s
front door.
The
Boars Head is well situated for exploring the Yorkshire Dales, nearby
upscale English resort
town of Harrogate
with its ancient “waters”, Fountains Abbey in Ripon and
Knaresborough Castle ruins. A castle tour can be arranged for inn
guests. Ripley Castle is open all
year around for public tours and also hosts weddings and corporate
events. Ripley Castle and the Boars Head Inn are located on A61 between
Harrowgate
and Ripon, 30 minutes from Leeds Bradford airport, 46 minutes from
York and about an hour and a half from Manchester or Midlands airports.
And
should you care to pay respects to the original Sir Thomas and Lady Ingilby,
they can still be found resting in their tombs with quite well
preserved effigies in the Ripley village church directly across from
the inn. Events are
held at the castle throughout the year and special tours for children
are
offered on Sundays during the summer. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Web Info
Boarshead Inn
Ripley Castle
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For Other North England Castle Hotels
LUMLEY
CASTLE - Durham County
LANGLEY
CASTLE - Northumberland
MUNCASTER
CASTLE - West Lake District
REDWORTH
HALL - Durham County
ETTINGTON PARK HOTEL - Warwickshire
See Also:
BETTYS CAFE & TEA ROOMS HARROGATE
FAMILY ANCESTRY TRAVEL IN BRITAIN
LITTLECOTE HOUSE HOTEL - CROMWELL & HENRY VIII
NIDD
HALL GEORGIAN MANOR HOTEL – KNARESBOROUGH
YORK CASTLE MUSEUM - VICTORIAN STREET
