The village includes a coaching inn, The Talbot Hotel which dates back to 1453. There is also a specialist shoe manufacturer, Clifford James, as well as Drake's restaurant, which has been awarded a Michelin star and 3 AA rosettes. The village church, St Mary Magdalen has a fine Norman chancel.

Ripley is mentioned in H. G. Wells' novels The War of the Worlds and The Wheels of Chance.

Cricket has been a popular sport in the village for over 200 years, played on the Green.

In the 1870s, cycling also became a popular activity in the South of England and Ripley was a convenient distance from London so that many cyclists would stop there for a break at the Anchor Inn.

Sisters Annie and Harriet Dibble encouraged the cyclists so much that in the following decade their visitors book was signed with over 7000 names - all arriving on penny-farthings or boneshakers.

It is also the birthplace of famous guitarist Eric Clapton.