| Keighley | |
|---|---|
.jpg)   _-_geograph.org.uk_-_414732.jpg)  Clockwise from top : View over Keighley,Dalton Mills, Markazi Jamia Mosque, North street,Town Hall | |
  Keighley Location withinWest Yorkshire | |
| Population | 57,345 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SE058412 |
| Civil parish |
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| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | |
| Post town | KEIGHLEY |
| Postcode district | BD20, BD21, BD22 |
| Dialling code | 01535 01274 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| 53°52′01″N1°54′40″W / 53.867°N 1.911°W /53.867; -1.911 | |
Keighley (/ˈkiːθli/ ⓘKEETH-lee[3][4]) is a market town and acivil parish[5]in theCity of Bradford Borough ofWest Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, afterBradford.
Keighley is 8 miles (13 kilometres) north-west ofBradford, 4 mi (6.5 km) north-west ofBingley, 11 mi (18 km) north ofHalifax and 8 mi (13 km) south-east ofSkipton. It is governed by Keighley Town Council andBradford City Council. Keighley is located inWest Yorkshire, close to the borders ofNorth Yorkshire andLancashire.Historically in theWest Riding of Yorkshire, it lies betweenAiredale and Keighley Moors. At the 2011 census, Keighley had a population of 56,348.[6]
The name Keighley, which has gone through many changes of spelling throughout its history, means "Cyhha's farm or clearing",[7] and was mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086: "In Cichhelai, Ulchel, and Thole, and Ravensuar, and William had six carucates to be taxed."
Henry de Keighley, aLancashireknight, was granted a charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 byKing Edward I.[8] Thepoll tax records of 1379 show that the population of Keighley, in thewapentake ofStaincliffe in theWest Riding of Yorkshire, was 109 people (47 couples and 15 single people).[9]
From 1753, the Union stage coach departed on theKeighley and Kendal Turnpike from what was the Devonshire Arms coaching inn on the corner of Church Street and High Street. Rebuilt about 1789, this public house has a classical style pedimented doorcase with engaged Tuscan columns in the high fashion of that age. The original route towardsSkipton was Spring Gardens Lane – Hollins Lane – Hollins Bank Lane.[10] Keighley was to become anintersection with otherturnpikes, including the Two-Laws to Keighley branch of the Toller Lane – Blue Bell turnpike (1755) fromBradford toColne, the Bradford to Keighley turnpike (1814), and the Keighley—Halifax turnpike.
The 1842Leeds Directory description of Keighley reads, "Its parish had no dependent townships though it is about six miles [10 km] long and four miles [6 km] broad, and comprises 10,160 acres [4,110 ha] of land (including a peaty moor of about 2,000 acres or 800 ha) and a population which amounted, in the year 1801, to 5,745."
Utley Cemetery contains the grave of Christopher Ingham, a veteran of the conflict againstNapoleon. He was a member of theDuke of Wellington's elite 95th Rifle Regiment and fought in ten battles against the French inSpain,France andBelgium, including theSpanish Peninsula War and theBattle of Waterloo, for which he was awarded several medals, including the Peninsula Medal. He died in 1866. Some local historians believe Mr Ingham's heroism may have inspired the authorBernard Cornwell's saga about MajorRichard Sharpe.[11] The TV series episodeSharpe's Justice, which focuses on the roots of the title character, is set in and around Keighley.
On 22 May 1936, theZeppelinHindenburg crossed Yorkshire in a diversion of her normal route between the United States and Germany.[12] As the airship passed over the town, a parcel was dropped and landed in the High Street, where two boys, Jack Gerrard and Alfred Butler, picked it up. The parcel contained a bunch of carnations, a small silver and jet crucifix, some postage stamps, a picture postcard and some Hindenburg notepaper.[13]
The note was written byJohn P Schulte, who called himself the first flying priest. The note requested that the carnations and crucifix be placed on the grave of his brother, Lieutenant Franz Schulte, who had died ofSpanish flu, during the deadlyinfluenza pandemic of 1918, as aPrisoner of War at Raikeswood Prisoner of War Camp, Skipton, originally built as a training camp for the Bradford Pals, in 1915. Schulte was, at that time, buried at Morton Cemetery, two miles (three kilometres) east of Keighley (though the letter stated that he was buried at Skipton, which was incorrect).[14]
To the finder of this letter. Please deposit these flowers and the cross on the grave of my dear brother, Lieutenant Franz Schulte, I. Garde Regt zu Fuss. Prisoner of War in Skipton Cemetery in Keighley near Leeds. Many thanks for your kindness, John P Schulte, the first flying priest. N.B. Please accept the stamps and picture as a small souvenir from me. God bless you![15]
— Hindenburg note, 22 May 1936
The carnations were placed on the grave and the two boys kept the postage stamps and the postcard. The crucifix was placed in St Anne's Church to avoid it being stolen.[15]
Keighley is represented in theHouse of Commons byConservativeMember of Parliament (MP)Robbie Moore, who won the seat by defeating his predecessorJohn Grogan at the2019 general election. Grogan had a majority of just 249 over the previous incumbent, ConservativeKris Hopkins.[16]
In 2015, Hopkins won the seat at the2015 general election – securing a second term. Hopkins increased the Conservatives vote share in the area from 41.9%[17] in 2010 to 44.3%[18] in 2015. The Conservatives won the seat in 2010, taking over fromAnn Cryer, who had been in office since 1997.
Keighley was contested by theBritish National Party (BNP) in theMay 2005 general election, when the party's leaderNick Griffin stood for Parliament. He was defeated by Ann Cryer, one of a small number ofLabour MPs with an increased majority. In March 2006, the town's mayoress, Rose Thompson, announced she had joined the BNP and was immediately dismissed by the mayor Tony Wright.[19]
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The town was incorporated as amunicipal borough on 28 July 1882 under the provisions of theMunicipal Corporations Act 1882 in theWest Riding of Yorkshire. In 1938, the boundaries of the borough and civil parish of Keighley were expanded to include the former urban districts and civil parishes ofHaworth,Oakworth andOxenhope, along with the parish ofMorton from the abolished Keighley Rural District and a small part of theBingley urban district.
On 1 April 1974, Keighley borough became part of theCity of Bradford Metropolitan District in accordance with theLocal Government Act 1972 in the newly formed county ofWest Yorkshire. The merger caused a lot of bitterness among Keighley people, who resented being 'taken over' by Bradford and accused the city's council of neglecting the town.[20] Civil parish status was restored to Keighley in 2002,[21] providing it with its owntown council.[22]
The council's 30 members elect a mayor from amongst their number once a year. The parish boundaries are based on but not identical to the pre-1938 borough boundaries. In June 2006, the leader ofBradford District Council, Conservative Councillor Kris Hopkins, was quoted in theCraven Herald & Pioneer as suggesting it might be a good idea for Keighley to become an independent authority once again.[23] The town has a local history society,Keighley and District Local History Society, and a family history society, Keighley and District Family History Society.[24]
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Keighley lies at theconfluence of the riversWorth andAire inAiredale, in theSouth Pennines. It benefits from anelectrified railway service with connections toLeeds,Bradford,Shipley,Bingley,Skipton,Carlisle andMorecambe.
Thepost town of Keighley's northern boundary is withBradley and its southern limit is the edge ofOxenhope. To the west, the town advances up the hill to the suburb of Black Hill, and in the east it terminates at the residential neighbourhoods ofLong Lee and Thwaites Brow. The outlying north-eastern suburb ofRiddlesden is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a separate village but is part of the town.
Past Black Hill and via Braithwaite Edge Road lies Braithwaite village, which leads toLaycock, which was also mentioned in theDomesday Book. Laycock is a conservation area which overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye.
TheRiver Aire passes through north-eastern Keighley, dividing the neighbourhood of Stockbridge and running roughly parallel to theLeeds and Liverpool Canal. The Worth links up with the Aire in Stockbridge and runs south-westerly, dividing eastern Keighley from central and western districts of the town. The Worth is lined with abandoned, semi-derelict industrial sites and tracts of waste ground dating from the period when Keighley thrived as a major textile centre.
Parts of Keighley are prone to flooding, and the town was particularly badly hit by floods in 2000.[26][27] Since then, millions have been spent on strengthening flood defences.
Other outlying villages around the town areOakworth,Cross Roads,Haworth,Stanbury andOxenhope. The two main settlements to the north areSilsden andSteeton. Although these villages are often referred to as separate places, they are part of the wider Keighley area. These areas add a total of 22,669 people to the Keighley area, taking the population of the wider Keighley area up to 74,098 (2001 Census).
To the north-east isRombalds Moor, which contains many signs ofStone Age andBronze Age occupation, includingcup and ring marks;[28] as it drops back down intoWharfedale and the town ofIlkley, approximately five miles away, it becomes the more famousIlkley Moor.
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,745 | 6,864 | 9,223 | 11,176 | 13,413 | 18,259 | 18,819 | 24,704 | 30,395 | 36,176 |
| Source: Vision of Britain – Keighley AP/CP: Total Population.[29] | ||||||||||
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 † | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 41,564 | 43,487 | 41,921 | 40,441 | 56,631 | 56,944 | 55,845 | 55,325 | 56,348 |
| Source: Vision of Britain – Keighley MB: Total Population.[30] | |||||||||
† The 1939 population is estimated from theNational Registration Act figures.[31] The 1941 census did not take place because of theSecond World War.
The town's industries have typically been intextiles, particularlywool andcotton processing. In addition to the manufacture of textiles, there were several large factories making textile machinery. These includedDean, Smith & Grace,George Hattersley & Son, and Prince, Smith & Stell. The first of these operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precisionlathes, until 2008.
Keighley is home toTimothy Taylor Brewery, the makers ofCAMRA,Champion Beer of Britain award-winning ales Landlord and Boltmaker (previously known as 'Best Bitter'). They also brew Ram Tam, Golden Best, Dark Mild, Knowle Spring and a new French style blonde ale, Le Champion, which was first brewed for the Tour de France in 2014 and has been brewed for the Tour de Yorkshire in 2015 and 2016.[32] They also own many pubs in the area, including the Albert Hotel, Boltmakers Arms, Lord Rodney, Royal Oak and The Fleece Inn in Haworth.
"On-street trading took place in Keighley, around the Church Green area, for 500 years before the establishment of a formal market in 1833. The market was situated at the west end of Low Street. This area was redeveloped in the late 1960s and a purpose-built covered market hall was constructed...The new building was opened by Keighley town mayor Sydney Bancroft in June, 1971."[35]
Much of the town centre has been pedestrianised. Keighley has KeighleyMarket Hall,[36] four large supermarkets, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Asda. There are several budget supermarkets situated in small retail parks around the town.
The Airedale shopping centre is a large indoorshopping precinct which houses most of the town's high street retail chains. The Airedale Shopping Centre housed the 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) statue of the giant Rombald holding a boulder above his head. It was moved to a different part of the centre when a glass ceiling was added to the whole complex. A public consultation favoured placing the statue on the Beechcliffe roundabout on theA650 road approaching Keighley from the east.[37] According to local legend, the giant Rombald threw a giant rock at his enemies (or in some versions of the tale his wife) killing them. The rock is the "calf" of "cow and calf" rock fame, which can be seen today at the top of Rombald's Moor onIlkley Moor.
Keighley has one cinema,The Picture House on North Street. It opened in 1913, making it one of the oldest in Britain. A brief closure in the mid-1990s prevented it from being listed as one of the oldest in continuous operation – a record that goes to theCurzon Cinema, which opened inClevedon,Somerset, in 1911. It was restored from its derelict condition in 1996 by Northern Morris Associated Cinemas and operates to this day.[38]
Keighley has a popular local music scene. There have been various venues where local bands play. Most notable was the now-defunct CJ's bar (also known as Chrome, VW's, Cheese and Trumpet) that played host to many popular touring bands. Examples of local bands arethe Sailmakers, the Undecided,Foxes Faux,Random Hand, the Get Guns, Eyesore Angels and Dead Message, who recently parted ways after 9 years. The British rock bandsSkeletal Family andTerrorvision were also originally formed in Keighley.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC Yorkshire andITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the local TV transmitter.[39] Keighley's local radio stations areBBC Radio Leeds on 102.7 FM,Heart Yorkshire on 107.6 FM,Capital Yorkshire on 105.6 FM,Hits Radio West Yorkshire on 97.5 FM,Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire on 96.3 FM, and Rombalds Radio, a community based radio station that broadcast online.[40] Local newspapers are theKeighley News andTelegraph & Argus.[41][42]
Keighley has the unique record of having the first recordedtown twinning agreement in the world, having entered into an agreement withPoix-du-Nord,France in 1920.[43][44] This actually followed an even earliersister city arrangement with two communes on the outskirts ofParis, France –Suresnes andPuteaux – starting in 1905.[43][45]
Like many other British towns and cities, Keighley was extensively remodelled in the 1960s and lost many historic buildings. However, the town managed to retain some of its heritage and has manyVictorian buildings. The localmillstone grit gives many of the buildings a distinctive look.
East Riddlesden Hall,Cliffe Castle Museum and Whinburn Mansion are finecountry houses. There are large townhouses alongSkipton Road, which contrast with the rows of smaller terraces in the streets behind them, although many of these larger buildings have since been converted into flats and bedsits.
The town's central library was the firstCarnegie library in England, opened in 1904 with a grant of £10,000 fromAndrew Carnegie.[47] The library has undergone refurbishment, which was completed in 2007. Many of the town's former mill buildings are still intact.
The town centre contains modern buildings, such as Leeds City College, and examples of Victorian commercial architecture, including the long terrace of Cavendish Street with its1⁄8-mile (0.20 km) ornamental canopy. There is a bus station which opened in 2002 near the Airedale Shopping Centre.[48][49] There are severaltower blocks in Parkwood Rise, Holycroft andIngrow and a centralmulti-storey car park.
Amongst the modern houses in Laycock, two miles (three kilometres) outside Keighley town centre, is a 17th-century, three-storeymanor house (which is said to be the former wing of a much bigger property), converted barns and 18th-century cottages.
On the outskirts of town is Cliffe Hall, also known as Cliffe Castle, nowKeighley Museum.[50]
TheKeighley and Worth Valley railway is aheritage steam railway, which links the town with Haworth, Oakworth, Oxenhope and the Bronte Country. Keighley is the location of theKeighley and Worth Valley Railway, aheritage railway that passes throughHaworth (part of theBrontë Country, home ofAnne,Charlotte andEmily Brontë) and terminates atOxenhope. At Ingrow is theMuseum of Rail Travel.
Top Withens and theBrontë Waterfall are within walking distance ofStanbury, a mile and a half from Haworth.East Riddlesden Hall is in Riddlesden. Keighley Police Museum is in the Keighley Civic Centre opposite the Town Square. The old police station has many pieces of police memorabilia, including a Victorian horse-drawn Black Mariah.
Local high schools areCarlton Keighley inUtley,[51]Beckfoot Oakbank,[52]Parkside School inCullingworth[53] and theHoly Family Catholic School.[54]
Keighley College, formerly the local campus ofLeeds City College, itself formerly known as Park Lane College, is situated nearKeighley railway station on Bradford Road.[55] In 2010, the college opened this new £30 million campus, moving away from the former site on Cavendish Street, which was in need of repair and has since been demolished. The college includes an Industrial Centre of Excellence and a nationally acclaimed Star Centre facility,[56] designed to encourage more young people to studySTEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This features a mockmission control centre, aplanetarium, a simulated rockyplanet surface and many otherspace-related items.
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Keighley has aparish church, Keighley Shared Church,[58] and is home to manyChristian denominations. It has churches and places of worship forAnglicans,Methodists,United Reformed,Mormons,Quakers,Salvation Army andJehovah's Witnesses. Keighley has a significantRoman Catholic, minority re-established following the repeal of the penal laws. The Catholic population was boosted in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Irish immigrants escaping the 1840sGreat Famine, who came to work in the textile and weaving industries. Keighley has two Roman Catholic churches (St Anne's – 1840 and St Joseph's – 1934) and fourRoman Catholic schools (St Anne's – 1857, St Joseph's – 1922, Our Lady of Victories – 1960 and Holy Family – 1964).
The firstspiritualist church in Britain was founded at Keighley in 1853 by David Richmond,[59] who, although not originally from the town, stayed for many years and helped to establish the movement throughout the country. Spiritualism was at its height during Victorian times and Keighley Spiritualist church remains open.
Muslims make up the second-largest religious group in the town. According to the 2011 census, there were more than 12,400 Muslims in Keighley in March of that year. Most had started coming to Britain in the 1960s from theMirpur region ofAzad Kashmir, inPakistan, and theSylhet region ofBangladesh. As of 2013, there were eight mosques in Keighley, including the purpose-built Markazi Jamia Masjid ('Central Community Mosque') in Emily Street and the purpose-built Jamia Masjid Ghosiyah (Ghosiyah Community Mosque – named after the saintAbdul Qadir Jilani), on Skipton Road. The rest are buildings which have been converted into Mosques, with the oldest being the Shahjalal Jami Masjid and Jamiah Quraniah (ShahJalal Community Mosque and Quran Teaching School – named after the saintShah Jalal), on Temple Row, which was previously theWesleyan Methodist Church, 1845–46.
There is aBuddhist centre on Lawkholme Crescent, in the town centre. The KeighleyKadampa Buddhist Centre is used by lay and ordained Buddhist practitioners and also runs day and evening classes for newcomers to the faith.
Keighley Cougars are a semi-professionalrugby league team based at Royd Ings Avenue. The ground's historical name isLawkholme Lane but has been known asCougar Park since 1992.Keighley RUFCrugby union team are based at Rose Cottage,Utley, and play in the amateurYorkshire Second Division.
Keighley Central F.C., was afootball club that won theYorkshire Football League Division 3 title in 1964.[60]
On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014Tour de France fromYork toSheffield, passed through the town. It was also the location of the stage's intermediate sprint after 42.6 miles (68.6 km). The 20 points for the Points jersey was claimed byBlel Kadri of AG2R La Mondiale.[61]
Keighley was the setting for the filmBlow Dry, starringJosh Hartnett,Alan Rickman andBill Nighy.Blow Dry opens with the announcement that the small town of Keighley will host the year 2000 British Hair Championships. Keighley's mayor (Warren Clarke) is thrilled about the news, but when he announces it to the town's press, they all yawn disapprovingly. The film, although set in Keighley, was shot in several locations.[62]
Most of the 2004 filmYasmin was shot in Keighley. Written bySimon Beaufoy and mostly filmed in Lawkholme, it tells the story of a British Muslim woman who has her life disrupted by the impact of theSeptember 11 attacks on America. Beaufoy said the film was originally set inOldham, but "worked its way across the Pennines".[63]
TheKeighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR), running steam trains from Keighley toHaworth andOxenhope, has been used in several films, includingThe Railway Children,Yanks, the film of thePink Floyd musicalThe Wall and an episode of the long-running situation comedy,The Last of the Summer Wine.[64]A Touch of Frost, starringDavid Jason, was also filmed at the railway line close toIngrow West.[65]
The 1950s set British feature filmBetween Two Women (2000) was filmed extensively in and around Keighley and its mills, in particular around the railway and close to the main town railway station.[66] The same director's next film,The Jealous God, (2005) also featuredKeighley railway station and nearby streets.[67]
The filmGod's Own Country about the young life of a sheep farmer was filmed inLaycock and also at Keighley bus station[68]
The 2004 documentaryEdge of the City, about theCity of Bradford Social Services, and the people and problems they deal with, was partly filmed in Keighley, and concerned sexual abuse of underagewhite girls by someAsian men.[69]
A great part of the 2004BBC television dramaNorth and South was shot on Keighley, withDalton Mills being one of the serial's main locations.[70]
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway depot was featured in an episode ofAll Creatures Great and Small which aired in 2023.
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The following people were born in Keighley, have lived there in the past or are currently resident in the town.
The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Town of Keighley.
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