Ripley, Surrey
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Ripley is a village in Surrey, which grew on the main A3 road from London to Portsmouth. The road was renumbered as B2215 when a bypass was built.
The village includes a sixteenth century coaching inn, The Talbot Hotel, and also a specialist shoe manufacturer, Clifford James. It is also the birthplace of famous guitarist Eric Clapton, and resting place of his son who died after falling from a hotel window.
Ripley is mentioned in H. G. Wells' novels The War of the Worlds and The Wheels of Chance.
Cricket has been a popular sport in the village for 200 years, played on the Green there. In the 1870s cycling also became a popular activity in the South of England and Ripley was a convenient distance from London so that many cyclists would stop there for a break at the Anchor Inn. Sisters Annie and Harriet Dibble encouraged the cyclists so much that, in some years in the following decade, their visitors book was signed with over 7000 names - all arriving on penny-farthings or boneshakers.
The village church has a fine Norman chancel.
Ripley is in the census ward 'Lovelace' which has a population of 2,629.[2]
There are two schools in Ripley a first school and a private school.