Dairy Range In North Courtyard At Ripley Castle

The dairy range in the north courtyard at Ripley Castle is a Grade II listed building, likely constructed in the late 18th century for Sir John Ingilby. It is built from coursed squared gritstone and limestone, topped with a graduated stone slate roof. The structure is single storey and consists of 15 bays, with the central bay featuring a wide gabled projection.

The central bay has a 20th-century sliding door, with blocked windows on either side that have plain lintels shaped to form a segmental arch. There is a projecting band at the eaves level, and the gable coping creates a simple pediment. To the left of the central bay, bays 1 and 2 have board doors with plain lintels, while bays 3, 4, and 5 contain segmental-arched openings that have been blocked or reduced, with two 16-pane sashes and a board door inserted. Bay 6 features a segmental-arched window with a frame of two shallow pointed-arched lights, which may be original and reset, and bay 7 has a part-glazed board door within a rendered surround.

On the right side, bay 1 has a board door with a plain lintel, while bays 2 and 3 contain windows with cambered arched heads and 2-light frames, although the central bars have been removed. The window in bay 3 is set in an arched recess. Bays 4 to 7 all have segmental arches, with bay 4 having a shuttered window and bays 5 to 7 featuring board doors. The roofs are hipped, and there are remains of a wooden louvre at the ridge of bay 12.

At the rear, there are three steps leading up to a cambered archway flanked by narrower round arches with large voussoirs and incised blocks. The roof above this area is segmental arched, creating an open loggia that projects from the rear wall of the dairy block, which has a central six-panel door. The rear of the left range includes a lean-to meat larder with three segmental-arched windows that still have remnants of original pegged wooden frames and iron bars, along with a row of three similar openings in the rear wall of the right range.

Inside, the central bay and the right range were derelict at the time of resurvey. The central dairy retains parts of a vaulted plastered ceiling with a central ventilator and shelving around the walls. The former meat and game larders, located in bays 4, 5, 6, 12, and 13, feature cross beams with hooks. This range also included the slaughterhouse.