History

The Parish was formerly much larger and at the date of the Domesday Survey included Upton upon Severn, all the three Croomes together with Queenhill and Holdfast. It was at that time one of the largest parishes in Worcestershire. Over the years various areas were transferred to neighbouring parishes to reduce it to its present size. Prior to the opening of the Birmingham/Bristol railway (closed under the Beeching axe*) the Parish was crossed from north to south by the coach road from the south west to the Midlands, which made it a prosperous area.

Ripple was known as "rippel" in AD 680 which has connections with the Norwegian "ripel", a strip of woodland or coppice. This is also referred to as "rypel" in ancient charters to denote a strip of land bestowed by some benefactor. This definition obviously confirms the shape of the Parish which extends north/south by 4.5 miles and east/west by 1.5 miles.

In 1643 the Battle of Ripple** was fought on Ripple meadow between the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller who defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince Maurice, as part of the Civil War.

Related Links...

	* BBC History - The Beeching Axe
	** Worcestershire County Council Civil War Archeology Pages
	** British Civil Wars Society