Riber Castle: An Awesome Transformation of the 19th Century Historic Gem

D0c.Col
Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:57:12 +0000
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Riber Castle reputedly cost £70,000 to build in the mid nineteenth century. It began its life as the family home of the Lea mill owner and hydropathist John Smedley and his wife Caroline.

Later converted into a boys’ school by Mr. Chippett, nobody wanted to buy it when it was for sale in 1936 and Matlock Urban District Council were able to purchase it at a public auction for a mere £1,150 They intended to turn it into a Museum but after War was declared in 1939 the castle was selected to become one of 137 “buffer” food storage depots in Derbyshire. The depots were apparently inspected weekly during the war. The Ministry of Food did not return the castle to the Council until 1949 and by then the damage was done. The Council received an offer of £150 for the building shortly afterwards but turned it down as they could not make up their minds what to do with it.
The castle is 856 feet or 261 metres above sea-level, and was built on the brow of Riber hill overlooking Matlock; the views from its windows were magnificent and in the 1930s it was considered to be one of the best landmarks in the Peak District. When it was first built there had been a problem with the water supply. Never someone to do things by halves, John Smedley sank a well several hundred feet deep. The well had its own staircase and provided the castle with “an inexhaustible supply of pure water”. Towards the end of its time as a school, when it was owned by Captain Lionel Gathorne Wilson, a thunderbolt struck one the castle’s towers during a heavy storm. Falling masonry shattered glass, damaged the roof, and brought down telephone wires but fortunately nobody was injured. A drama of a different kind took place in 1934 when Mr. Louis Slater, of Smedley Street, Matlock, made a flight in his glider “The Golden Wren” from the castle grounds. Mr. Slater was in the air for about half an hour, and was said to have risen to considerable height in the thermals above the castle. In 1937 the Council’s Pleasure Grounds Committee debated what they should do with the building now that they owned it. Over the Whitsun weekend that year several hundred people viewed the castle and the Council was pleasantly surprised to discover that the receipts for admission totalled £58 3s. 3d. After the war the castle remained empty for some years but Matlock Council were unable to protect it from vandals. In early 1962 it was revealed that the Council had been negotiating with the British Fauna Trust, who wanted to use the castle as a nature preserve. It was sold for £500 later that year. It became a zoo that specialised in breeding lynx and in 1983 two of their animals were released into the Pyrenees.

Planning permission was granted a few years ago, despite strong opposition by both locals and many much further afield, for the Castle to be converted into apartments.

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