Riber Castle
Riber Castle is a country house , which in the 19th century in the hamlet of Riber on a hill above the town of Matlock in the English county of Derbyshire was built. English Heritage has listed it as a Grade II Historic Building. The house is called Smedley's Folly in the area because it was difficult to get water for the private house built for the industrialist John Smedley on the hill in 1862. Smedley's widow lived in Riber Castle until her death.
The country house was built from hard sandstone from a quarry in the area, which was pulled 200 meters up the hill with pulleys .
After the death of Smedley's widow, the house became a boys' school until it could no longer be maintained in the 1930s. During World War II , the Department of Defense used Riber Castle as a storage room. After the war, the house was initially unused.
From the 1960s to September 2000, it was home to a wildlife park with British and European fauna. The facility was called the Riber Castle Wildlife Park or Riber Zoo . The property was then sold by the owners, but since they could not sell it with the wildlife park, it had to close. The park administration had been criticized for the way the animals were kept and the closure was controversial.
Environmental activists freed a number of lynxes from the Riber Zoo, which escaped into the wild.
The plan to convert the shell of Riber Castle into apartments was approved on March 15, 2006. The walls of the country house have now been secured, chimneys and ceilings replaced, 119 windows replaced and a roof added. In 2014, two model apartments were ready. Access to the property was blocked by a wire fence that was removed in 2006. After that, a commonly used beaten path is formed. The developers have now built a second, more secure fence and the entrances to the property are guarded.
Riber Castle and the town of Matlock served as important backdrops for Shane Meadows ' film Blood feud - Dead Man's Shoes .
Individual evidence
- ^ Images of England: Riber Castle . English Heritage. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Riber Castle . Derbyshire Guide. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ↑ a b c Riber Castle - Urban Desertion . Urban desertion. Archived from the original on May 2, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ↑ From brooding landmark to des res with a view, castle is coming to life. Derby Telegraph. January 2, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ↑ Dead Man's Shoes (2004) - Filming locations . IMDb. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 7 ′ 40.1 ″ N , 1 ° 32 ′ 34.8 ″ W.