Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.
Keighley is north-west of Bradford, north-west of Bingley, north of Halifax and south-east of Skipton. It is governed by Keighley Town Council and Bradford City Council. Keighley is in West Yorkshire, close to the borders of North Yorkshire and Lancashire. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies between Airedale and Keighley Moors. At the 2011 census, Keighley had a population of 56,348.
History Toponymy The name Keighley, which has gone through many changes of spelling throughout its history, means "Cyhha's farm or clearing", and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086: "In Cichhelai, Ulchel, and Thole, and Ravensuar, and William had six carucates to be taxed."
Town charter Henry de Keighley, a Lancashire knight, was granted a charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 by King Edward I. The poll tax records of 1379 show that the population of Keighley, in the wapentake of Staincliffe in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was 109 (47 couples and 15 single people).
18th and 19th centuries From 1753, the Union stage coach departed on the Keighley 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 towards Skipton was Spring Gardens Lane – Hollins Lane – Hollins Bank Lane. Keighley was to become an intersection with other turnpikes, including the Two-Laws to Keighley branch of the Toller Lane – Blue Bell turnpike (1755) from Bradford to Colne, the Bradford to Keighley turnpike (1814), and the Keighley—Halifax turnpike.
The 1842 Leeds Directory description of Keighley reads, "Its parish had no dependent townships though it is about long and broad, and comprises of land (including a peaty moor of about ) and a population which amounted, in the year 1801, to 5,745."
Christopher Ingham Utley Cemetery contains the grave of Christopher Ingham, a veteran of the conflict against Napoleon. He was a member of the Duke of Wellington's elite 95th Rifle Regiment and fought in ten battles against the French in Spain, France and Belgium, including the Spanish Peninsula War and the Battle 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 author Bernard Cornwell's saga about Major Richard Sharpe. The TV series episode Sharpe's Justice, which focuses on the roots of the title character, is set in and around Keighley.
Hindenburg parcel On 22 May 1936, the Zeppelin Hindenburg crossed Yorkshire in a diversion of her normal route between the United States and Germany. 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.
The note was written by John 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 of Spanish flu, during the deadly influenza pandemic of 1918, as a Prisoner 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, east of Keighley (though the letter stated that he was buried at Skipton, which was incorrect).
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.
Governance Constituency Keighley is represented in the House of Commons by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Robbie Moore, who won the seat by defeating his Labour Party predecessor John Grogan at the 2019 general election. Grogan had a majority of just 249 over the previous incumbent, Conservative Kris Hopkins.
In 2015, Hopkins won the seat at the 2015 general election – securing a second term. Hopkins increased the Conservatives vote share in the area from 41.9% in 2010 to 44.3% in 2015. The Conservatives won the seat in 2010, taking over from Ann Cryer, who had been in office since 1997.
Keighley was contested by the British National Party (BNP) in the May 2005 general election, when the party's leader Nick Griffin stood for Parliament. He was defeated by Ann Cryer, one of a small number of Labour 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.
Parish
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough on 28 July 1882 under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 in the West 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 of Haworth, Oakworth and Oxenhope, along with the parish of Morton from the abolished Keighley Rural District and a small part of the Bingley urban district.
On 1 April 1974, Keighley borough became part of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972 in the newly formed county of West 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. Civil parish status was restored to Keighley in 2002, providing it with its own town council.
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 of Bradford District Council, Conservative Councillor Kris Hopkins, was quoted in the Craven Herald & Pioneer as suggesting it might be a good idea for Keighley to become an independent authority once again. The town has a local history society, Keighley and District Local History Society, and a family history society, Keighley and District Family History Society.
Arms
Geography
Keighley lies at the confluence of the rivers Worth and Aire in Airedale, in the South Pennines. It benefits from an electrified railway service with connections to Leeds, Bradford, Shipley, Bingley, Skipton, Carlisle and Morecambe.
The post town of Keighley's northern boundary is with Bradley and its southern limit is the edge of Oxenhope. 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 of Long Lee and Thwaites Brow. The outlying north-eastern suburb of Riddlesden 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 to Laycock, which was also mentioned in the Domesday Book. Laycock is a conservation area which overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye.
The River Aire passes through north-eastern Keighley, dividing the neighbourhood of Stockbridge and running roughly parallel to the Leeds 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. Since then, millions have been spent on strengthening flood defences.
Other outlying villages around the town are Oakworth, Cross Roads, Haworth, Stanbury and Oxenhope. The two main settlements to the north are Silsden and Steeton. 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 is Rombalds Moor, which contains many signs of Stone Age and Bronze Age occupation, including cup and ring marks; as it drops back down into Wharfedale and the town of Ilkley, approximately five miles away, it becomes the more famous Ilkley Moor.
Demography + Census population of the ancient parish/civil parish of KeighleyYear 1801 1811 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891Population 5,745 6,864 9,223 11,176 13,413 18,259 18,819 24,704 30,395 36,176Source: Vision of Britain – Keighley AP/CP: Total Population.
+ Census population of the municipal borough of KeighleyYear 1901 1911 1921 1931 1939 † 1951 1961 1971 2011Population 41,564 43,487 41,921 40,441 56,631 56,944 55,845 55,32556,348Source: Vision of Britain – Keighley MB: Total Population. † The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration Act figures. The 1941 census did not take place because of the Second World War.
Economy
The town's industries have typically been in textiles, particularly wool and cotton processing. In addition to the manufacture of textiles, there were several large factories making textile machinery. These included Dean, Smith & Grace, George Hattersley & Son, and Prince, Smith & Stell. The first of these operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precision lathes, until 2008.
Keighley is home to Timothy Taylor Brewery, the makers of CAMRA, Champion Beer of Britain award-winning ales Landlord and Boltmaker (previously known as 'Best Bitter'). They also brew Landlord Dark (previously known as Ram Tam), Golden Best, Dark Mild, Knowle Spring and a 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. A new light refreshing session IPA called Hopical Storm appeared in 2020. They also own many pubs in the area, including the Albert Hotel, Boltmakers Arms, Taylor’s on the Green, Royal Oak and The Fleece Inn in Haworth.
Community and culture
"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."
Much of the town centre has been pedestrianised. Keighley has Keighley Market Hall, 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 indoor shopping precinct which houses most of the town's high street retail chains. The Airedale Shopping Centre housed the 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 the A650 road approaching Keighley from the east. 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 on Ilkley Moor.