Sir Thomas Ingleby (c. 1290–1352) married the heiress Edeline Thwenge in 1308/9 and acquired the Ripley Castle estate with its medieval manor house as her dowry.

His descendant Sir John Ingleby (1434–1499) inherited the estate at the age of five from his father William and built the castle gatehouse, before becoming a monk at Mount Grace Priory, near Northallerton, and later the Bishop of Llandaff.

Francis, a priest, was caught, sentenced and hanged, drawn and quartered in York in 1586; David escaped to die on the Continent.

He fought at Marston Moor in 1644, when the King's forces were totally routed, making his escape to Ripley and hiding in a priest hole while Oliver Cromwell billeted himself there for the night, held at gunpoint in the library by Sir William's sister, Jane Ingleby.

[7] Sir John undertook a major rebuild of the castle in 1783–86 by William Belwood but got into debt and fled overseas in 1794 for several years.

His son William (1783–1854) was a great eccentric, drinker and gambler and MP for East Retford from 1807 to 1812 and High Sheriff in 1821.

He adopted the surname of Amcotts-Ingilby (his mother was Elizabeth Amcotts) and demolished and rebuilt the village of Ripley, complete with a Continental-style hôtel de ville.

[14] In October 2021, the castle was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection from the government's Culture Recovery Fund.