Farnhill Village Web Portal

In August 2013 we posted a short piece in our “Mysteries” section asking if anyone knew where the building known as Farnhill Wood Cafe and Cyclists Rest used to be located. It has taken us a long time and has involved assessing information from numerous sources, but we think we’ve finally got the mystery resolved – well, hopefully.

Read the results of our research.

From the Romans to the present day, the road from Keighley to Skipton has changed considerably. The route you would have taken depends on when you were travelling.

This update on the development of the road between Keighley and Skipton includes information about the 1993 Department of Transport plan for a Kildwick-Skipton dual-carriageway.
 

At the start of WW1, as German troops overran their country, over 250,000 Belgians came to Britain as refugees. It was the single largest influx of refugees in this country's history.

Some of them came to this area. This article tells their story.

From the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 religious life in England was in an almost permanent state of upheaval. Inevitably Kildwick parish became involved in this and, between the 1580s and 1660, the church was home to a succession of radical Protestant churchmen.

We have updated this article to show how, in the years following the restortion, the establishment took back control to such an extent that, in 1743, the new curate of St. Andrew’s felt he had to explain and almost apologise for the redical beliefs of other members of his family.

There are a number of interesting graves in the graveyard of St. Andrew's Church but perhaps the most impressive, although by no means the largest, is the so-called "Organ Grave".

In this article we provide answers to three questions about this grave:

• Why does the grave have an organ on it ?
• Who carved it ?
• Does the organ still exist and, if so, where is it ?

You can also read a short memoir, written in 1889, about John Laycock the organ-builder and view a video of the 1851 Laycock organ in Cowling Hill Chapel.

In our most recent update to this article we have included a transcript of the obituary to John Laycock published in the Craven Herald on 21/9/1889.

Earlier this year the History Group was gifted an album of old photographs of Farnhill, Kildwick and nearby townships, by a man from Australia.

His grandfather had emigrated at the end of the nineteenth century and for the next 5 to 10 years had received photographs and postcards sent by family members back home. These were kept, in excellent condition, in an album, the contents of which have now been converted into two slideshows (there are two many images for just one).

Click the links below to view the contents of this remarkable piece of history:

From the 16th to the middle of the 20th centuries, the village of Kildwick was owned by the Lord of the Manor. In a series of short articles, produced over the next few months, we will tell the story of the owners of Kildwick Hall and the Kildwick Estate
 

We've updated our series of articles on the terrible rail crash that happened at the old Kildwick railway station in 1875 with further information on the appeal for damages made by Mary Calvert, against the Midland Railway Company, following the death of her husband and son in the crash.

We are grateful to Kath Allen for help with this update.

Part 1 - The accident
Part 2 - Inquests, inquiries and reports
Part 3 - The trial of Harrison Palfreeman     Updated 30/09/2017
Part 4 - Why was the crash so bad ?
Appendix 1 - The opening of the new Kildwick and Crosshills station (1889)
Appendix 2 - Surely it can’t happen again ? (1989)