Banner image

Farnhill and Kildwick History Group

History group logo

Very little has been formally written or documented about the history of Farnhill or Kildwick. The aim of this group is to research and present its findings on this web site. Anyone who has information or memories to contribute please contact the web administrator. We usually meet each month in the Village Institute, please check the Events Diary for details. New members are always welcome. Regular updates and new articles feature here, so please bookmark this page.

What's new link      100 years ago link      Slideshows link      Mysteries link
     Anecdotes link      Farnhill WW1 Volunteers Project      Group photos link

Last updated: 28/09/2024

Site search:

History Group Diary

All meetings take place in Farnhill Institute unless otherwise specified.

10th Oct -- "WW1 Project revisited"
 
21st Nov -- A talk on the Currer family, owners of Kildwick Hall and the Manor of Kildwick
 

All meetings are open to all and free to attend. Cash donations to help us cover costs are welcomed.

Here are the remaining meetings in our autumn season:

October 10th: It's six years since the History Group completed it's two-year, lottery-funded, "Farnhill WWI Volunteers Project", which researched the lives of the 68 men from Farnhill who volunteered to serve in WW1 before the introduction of conscription in early 1916. Helen Moran will look back at the project and recount what was achieved.

November 21st: Graham Taylor will give the first of three talks which will cover the history of Kildwick Hall and the people who lived there. November's talk will look at the Currer family, who were lords of the Manor of Kildwick from around 1550 until 1861.

Our meetings take place on a Thursday evening, in the Institute building, and start at 7.00pm. They are free, although small cash donations are welcome to help cover our costs, and are open to all.

We are always pleased to hear about topics of historical interest that we might research - some of our most interesting articles have started out as suggestions made by visitors to this website. If you have any information on the history of Farnhill or Kildwick that you'd like to share with us, or would like us to investigate further.

A Selection from our Archive

Each month we aim to display a different selection of items from our archive of photographs and documents.

Do you have any interesting items to contribute to the archive ?
Please contact history@farnhill.co.uk

New and Updated Items
Last updated: 28/09/2024

What's new this month ?
 


 

Tenants and later owners of Kildwick Hall     Updated: 28/09/2024

Once the Kildwick estate was broken up, in 1949, Kildwick Hall passed through a number of private hands and was used for a number of commercial ventures. This article tells the story of the later owners of Kildwick Hall. It also investigates some of the people who were tenants of the Hall when it was still part of the Kildwick estate.

This update provides a large amount of new material resulting from our recent researches.
 

100 years ago link

Farnhill and Kildwick 100 years ago

Amongst the things happening in Farnhill and Kildwick in September 1923 were - a garden party at Kildwick Hall; donations to the school; and yet another traffic accident.

Click here.


Other recent additions and updates
 


 

Farnhill 1846 tithe commutation     First published: 28/07/2024 and 31/08/2024

The 1846 tithe commutation document provides a lot of information about what Farnhill was like in the middle of the nineteenth century. We've used it to produce two articles:

The owners and tenants.
and
The tithe map (1845)
 

 

When Kildwick Church nearly fell down     Updated 31/08/2024

By the end of the 19th century Kildwick Church was in a bad way. At least one beam had fallen from the roof, smashing one of the pews below, and an architect reported that the building could fall down at any time. This article continues our researches into the work carried out to save "the Lang Kirk of Craven", and looks at how services were conducted while the church organ was out of action.


 

 

A history of the Kildwick bells and bell-ringers     Updated: 28/07/2024

We've updated our piece on the bells at St. Andrew's church with details of the first-ever "History of the Lang Kirk", a booklet produced to raise funds for the new bells in 1914.


 


 

Was Farnhill Mill at the forefront of new textile developments in the 1940s ?     First published: 29/06/2024

Perhaps and perhaps not - but if wasn't, then what was going on with all the peanuts ?.

Click here.


 

Creation of the Kildwick and Farnhill Institute     Updated: 29/06/2024

The Institute was founded in 1911 and was the gift of the Brigg family.

We've researched how the Institute came into being using newspaper reports of the period. We've also recently found out more information about the building before it became the Institute.

Read the full story here.


 

Some short histories of Farnhill and Kildwick     Updated 25/05/2024

We thought you might to take a look at what other people have written about the history of Farnhill and Kildwick:

"The Villages of Craven - Farnhill" (an article from the Craven Herald of April 26th 1876)

"Kildwick Hall - Historical Sketch" by J.J. Brigg

"John Barritt obituary" (1809 – 1897)

"A History of Kildwick" notes for a lecture given by Will Cowling in 1951

Some "Notes on Farnhill" written by George Bottomley in 1950.


 

Kildwick Hall and the owners of the Kildwick Estate     Updated: 25/05/2024

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, we tell the story of the owners of Kildwick Hall and the Kildwick Estate.

The updates made to our articles, originally published in 2017, revise the old texts and prepare for the story of the recent tenants and owners of the Hall, to be published next month.
 


Views from the Bridge     First published: 27/4/2024

The approach to St. Andrew’s Church from Kildwick bridge was a particular favourite of early photographers, and our archive contains a large number of images of this view taken throughout the 20th century.

For most of them it’s difficult to be precise about the date, but, by looking at small changes to the landscape over time, it is possible – for the majority – to suggest a sequence.

So here are some “Views from the Bridge”; some not quite from the bridge; and a few of the bridge itself.


 

 

Farnhill and the Great Escape     Updated: 30/3/2024

This month marks the 80th anniversary of the mass escape of allied PoWs from Stalag Luft III during WWII - an event that became famous as "The Great Escape".

This update is a major revision of our original article, with lots of additional information about the Farnhill family who had a significant connection to the escape.


 


Kildwick Parish Gasworks (1878-1955)     Updated: 30/3/2024

Kildwick Gas Works, which stood on the site occupied by the petrol station - behind St. Andrew's Terrace Crosshills, closed in 1955 and was demolished in the mid-1960s. The late Dennis Laycock's father, Fred, was manager of the works when it closed and, after his own retirement, Dennis wrote a notebook providing a short history of the works and details of its operation.

We are very pleased that Dennis allowed us to publish his handwritten notebook.

You can also view a short slideshow of pictures from Dennis's notebook and others of the gas works from our archive. Click on the image opposite.