Farnhill Village Web Portal

In the later years of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, most employment was provided by the very many local mills.

The loss of two mills in Farnhill at the end of 1905 and early in 1906 - see below - had a devastating effect on local people: they no longer had work on their doorstep they had to bicycle or walk to work; some chose to move to other townships.

One of the nearby mills that continued to provide work was Woodrow's at Junction.

Charles Alexander Hargreaves, known as Alec, left school at the age of 13, in 1906, and - apart from serving abroad during WW1 - was at Woodrow's Mill for all his working life, a total of 49 years.

Towards the end of this time he wrote a memoir of his period there: A working life at Woodrow's Mill.
 

Two destructive mill fires in Farnhill, one in December 1905 and the other in March 1906, effectively ended industrial development within the village, as well as causing significant unemployment and hardship. We've updated our slideshow of photographs of the mill fires - including the only known image of Farnhill Mill before it burned down - and some of a third mill in Farnhill which, although it closed in 1906, is still in use today.

View a slideshow of photographs taken at the time.

You can also read our article about the devastating fires of 1905 and 1906.
 

Chartism was a Victorian era working class movement for political reform in Britain between 1838 and 1848.

We've updated our article on the impact of the Chartist Movement in Farnhill and Kildwick with information recently discovered about two men from the village who fought in WW1 and who were members of former Chartist families.

Part 1 - 1815 to 1845
Part 2 - 1848...a turning point in history when history refused to turn (A J P Taylor) - Updated 30/06/2018 - with new Appendix
 

Another update to our piece on the Kildwick and Farnhill Brass Band. This update includes information about the sad decline of the band in the 1920s and, on a more positive note, recollections from a man who was part of the band when it won the 1905 Crystal Palace contest.
 

Charles Wilcock, a good friend of the History Group, has been researching his forebears and his written us an article about one of them. His name was Jonas Davy and he went on to be a detective with the Bradford Police Force.

Originally written as a piece for the Bradford Police Museum, here is the story of Jonas Davy - the Farnhill Detective.

Our archive includes a number of maps of Farnhill and Kildwick. Here are some, dating from 1577 to 2012 in approximately chronological order, made into a slideshow. It's interesting to see how views of the area have changed.

We've updated this slideshow with further maps contributed to our archive in the past 18 months or so.
 

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.