Ripley manufacturing history

 In Derbyshire's Amber Valley in the 1790s, three Derbyshire men came together to create what would become the world's first industrial complex: a young surveyor from Alfreton, Benjamin Outran, Francis Beresford a land owned from Ashbourne, William Jessop a canal engineer and John Wright, a Nottingham banker.

With the benefit of local coal and iron, the Butterley company produced substantial iron structures; wrought iron made at their Codnor Park works was used on Telford’s Menai Straights Bridge and on Brunel’s SS. Great Britain steam ship. As well as exports of coal and pig iron, the company produced steam engines which were used in the drainage schemes for the Fens.

William Jessop was responsible for one of the most intriguing features, an underground wharf. Jessop and Outran built the Cromford canal from Arkwright's textile factory in Cromford down to the Erewash canal and onto the River Trent and the canal network. The wharf was used by the Butterley company whose first blast furnace was close by. The canal would carry Arkwright's manufactures as well as coal, pig iron and Butterley manufactures.

In 1861 Sir John Alleyne, employed as chief engineer, began the mechanisation of steel rolling mills enabling heavy pieces to be made. This process produced the massive beams supporting the roof of St Pancras station. He conceived but did not perfect the reversing mill; this was left to John Ramsbottom at the Crewe railway works.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Butterley employed 10,000 people leading to the prosperity of Ripley. Towards the end of its life the company they produced the Falkirk Wheel and the Spinnaker Tower at Portsmouth (in the image).

Brick making was a natural partner to coal mining and the company produced bricks to meet their own needs. They built accommodation for their employees in neighbouring villages. In the twentieth century, brick making became more serious and new works were built at Kirkby and Ollerton. Brick production reached 28 million in 1936. Further plants were added in Derbyshire and Leicestershire allowing a wider range of bricks to be offered. The company was bought by Hanson in 1968.

Further reading

• https://www.rdht.org.uk/
• Stuart Fisher, Canals of Britain (London: Adlard Coles Nautical, 2009)
• W.K.V. Gale, Iron and Steel (London: Longmans, 1969)