Riber Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Riber Castle |
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"a true monster"
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Gothic |
| Town or city | Matlock, Derbyshire |
| Country | England |
| Completed | 1862 |
| Client | John Smedley |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Riber Castle | |
| Designated: | 22 June 1950 |
| Reference #: | 1248137 |
Riber Castle is a large house built in the 1800s. It's a special building known as a Grade II listed building. You can find it in the small village of Riber, high on a hill overlooking Matlock in Derbyshire, England.
People in the area used to call it "Smedley's Folly." This was because it was very difficult to get water all the way up the hill to the castle! A rich businessman named John Smedley built it in 1862 to be his private home. His wife lived there after him until she passed away.
The castle is made from a type of rock called gritstone. This stone came from a local quarry, as Derbyshire is well known for its stone. Workers used a system of pulleys to pull the heavy stones up the 200-meter-high hill.
Life After John Smedley
After John Smedley's wife died, Riber Castle found a new purpose. It became a prep school for boys. This school operated until the 1930s when it became too expensive to run.
A famous expert on buildings, John Summerson, went to the school in the early 1900s. He liked his time there, but he wasn't a big fan of the castle's look. He even called it "a true monster."
When World War II started, the British Ministry of Defence used the castle. They stored food supplies there during the war. After the war ended, the Ministry left, and the castle remained empty until the 1960s.
Riber Castle Wildlife Park
From the 1960s until September 2000, Riber Castle was home to a zoo! It was known as Riber Castle Wildlife Park or Riber Zoo. This park kept animals found in Britain and Europe.
The original owners sold the wildlife park. However, the new owners faced a lot of criticism for how they treated the animals. Because of this, the zoo eventually closed down. The original owners had even bred lynx, which were later released into a European mountain range.
The Castle Today
After the zoo closed, Riber Castle was left empty for some time. In 2006, plans were approved to turn the old castle into apartments. This project involved a lot of work to fix up the old building.
The castle walls were made safe, and new chimneys and floors were built. Workers also replaced 119 windows and added a new roof. It was hoped that some of the new apartments would be ready by 2014.
Before 2006, it was hard to get close to the castle because of fences. But then, the fences were opened, and the area became a popular walking path. More recently, the developers have put up new, stronger fences and added security guards to protect the site.
Riber Castle and the town of Matlock were important locations in the film Dead Man's Shoes, directed by Shane Meadows.
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Riber para niños
