Another of Ripley’s old inns, the Cock can be dated back as far as 1757, though it probably existed long before that.
The name may have come from it being a venue for cock fights (and it certainly had the traditional courtyard where they usually took place) but more likely because it provided the “cock” or extra horses that coaches needed to get up the long hill from Butterley. It had stabling, then, and was a calling point for those coaches.
In the late 18th century, the licensee was Ferdinand Turton, at the same time as his counterpart at the Red Lion was Joseph Turton. This was surely not a coincidence : It looks like the Turton family ran most of the prominent inns of the town.
In 1816 a Hampden Club met at the Cock – a meeting of workers and thinkers discussing political reform – and the talk here helped lay the foundations for the Pentrich Revolution the following year. In the early morning of the 10th June 1817 the revolutionaries did indeed call at the Cock on their way to Nottingham.
A change of licensee may have indicated a change of politics: in 1820, after the stone-laying ceremony that started the building of All Saints Church (which was built partly in reaction to the revolt), the new landlord’s wife, Mrs Moore, provided an “excellent dinner” for the guests.
The licensees who followed the Moores, John Bailey and Hannah Ashton, rented rather than owned the premises, so the pub was obviously seen as a way of making money.
By 1874, under a new licensee, the building was extended to provide “accommodation to the Commercial Public”, and in 1907 when the premises were sold, it was described as having: “a bar, commercial room, .. large concert room, on the first floor a club room, spirit room, 6 bedrooms… together with convenient stables and loose boxes with club room over, coach houses.. piggeries and other out-offices.”
It was extended again in 1933 (see the advert above), now owned by a brewery and offering accommodation for motorists instead of horses and coaches. It became a venue for sales and shows as well as meetings.
In recent years it has been modified several times to become a nightclub under various names.
