Keighley
Encyclopedia
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough
of the City of Bradford
in West Yorkshire
, England. It is situated 11 miles (17.7 km) northwest of Bradford
and is at the confluence
of the River Aire
and the River Worth
. The town area, which is part of the Brontë Country
, has a population of 51,429 (2001 Census
), making it the third largest civil parish in England.
Keighley lies in a fold between the countryside of Airedale and Keighley Moors. The town is the terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
, a heritage steam branch line which has been restored and runs through the Worth Valley to Oxenhope
via Oakworth
and Haworth
.
, "In Cichhelai (Keighley), Ulchel, and Thole, and Ravensuar, and William had six carucate
s to be taxed."
Henry de Kighley, 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 population of Keighley, in the wapentake of Staincliffe
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
, was 109 people (47 couples and 15 single people).
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. Two of these were Dean, Smith & Grace and Prince, Smith & Stell. The former operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precision lathe
s, until 2008.
The 1842 Leeds Directory description of Keighley reads "Its parish had no dependent townships though it is about six miles (10 km) long and four broad, and comprises 10160 acres (41.1 km²) of land (including a peaty moor of about 2000 acres (8.1 km²)) and a population which amounted, in the year 1801, to 5,745."
The town became a municipal borough
in 1882, but was merged into the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford
in 1974 under the Local Government Act
. 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.
of the River Worth
and River Aire
in Airedale
, in the south Pennines
. Its 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 northeastern suburb of Riddlesden
is sometimes 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 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-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 in by floods 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 to the Keighley area, taking the population of the wider Keighley area up to 74,098(2001 Census
.
To the north east is Rombald's Moor which contains many signs of stone age
and bronze age
occupation including cup and ring mark
s, and as it drops back down into Wharfedale
and the town of Ilkley
, approximately five miles away, becomes the more famous Ilkley Moor
.
† The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration Act
figures. The 1941 census did not take place because of the Second World War
.
The 'Airedale Centre', is a large indoor shopping precinct which houses most of the town's high street retailers such as Marks and Spencer and other retailers such as Next, Dorothy Perkins and New Look. Much of the town centre has been pedestrianised. Keighley has three large supermarkets, Morrisons
, Sainsbury's and Asda
which opened in 2009. There are several budget supermarkets such as Aldi
situated in small retail parks around the town. Keighley benefits from an electrified railway service with connections to Leeds
, Bradford
, Shipley
, Bingley
, Skipton
, Carlisle
and Morecambe
and the Keighley and Worth Valley railway
is a heritage steam railway, which links the town with Haworth
, Oakworth
and the Bronte Country
.
(St. Andrew's Shared Church) and is home to many Christian
denominations. It has churches and places of worship for Anglicans, Methodists, United Reformed
, Mormons
, Quakers, Salvation Army
and Jehovah's Witnesses
. Keighley has a significant Roman Catholic minority established in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Irish immigrants who came to work in the textile and weaving industries. Keighley has three Roman Catholic churches (St Anne's 1840, St Joseph's 1934 and Our Lady of Victories 1939) and four Roman Catholic schools (St Anne's 1857, St Joseph's 1922, Our Lady of Victories 1960 and Holy Family 1964).
The first spiritualist
church in Britain was founded at Keighley in 1853 by David Richmond, who although not originally from the town, stayed for many years, and helped to establish the movement throughout the country. Spiritualism died out after the Second World War, but the Keighley church remains open.
Muslim
s make up the second largest religious group in the town. According to the 2001 census there were about 8,000 Muslims in Keighley. Most had come to Britain in the 1960s from the Mirpur region of Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan, and the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. As of 2011 there were seven mosques in Keighley, including the purpose-built Markazi Jamia Masjid ('Central Community Mosque') in Emily Street, and the Ghosia Mosque, in Cark Road.
There is a Buddhist
centre on Lawkholme Crescent, in the town centre. The Keighley Kadampa Buddhist Centre is used by lay and ordained Buddhist practitioners and also runs day and evening classes for newcomers to the faith.
buildings. The local millstone grit
gives many of the buildings a distinctive look.
East Riddlesden Hall
, Cliffe Castle Museum
and Whinburn Mansion are fine, country houses. There are large town houses along Skipton
Road which contrast with the cramped rows of terraces in the streets behind them.
The town's central library was the first Carnegie Library
in England opened in 1904 with a grant of £10,000 from Andrew Carnegie
. 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 its 200 metre ornamental canopy. There is an award winning bus station which opened in 2002 near the Airedale Shopping Centre. There are several tower block
s in Parkwood Rise, Holycroft and Ingrow
and a central multi-storey car park.
Amongst the modern houses in Laycock, 2 miles (3.2 km) outside Keighley town centre is a 17th century three-storey manor 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, now Keighley Museum. Keighley is the location of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
, a heritage railway
that passes through Haworth
(part of the Brontë Country
, home of Anne
, Charlotte
and Emily Brontë
) and terminates at Oxenhope
. At Ingrow is the Museum of Rail Travel
.
Top Withens
and the Brontë Waterfall
are within walking distance of Stanbury
, a mile and a half from Haworth. East Riddlesden Hall
is close to Keighley.
and The Holy Family Catholic School. These schools are for pupils aged 11 to 18.
The Keighley campus of Leeds City College
was located at the junction of North and Cavendish Streets in the town centre. However, this further and higher education college has had a new campus built in Dalton Lane, which opened its doors to staff and students in September 2010. The college includes a nationally acclaimed 'Star Centre' facility, designed to encourage more young people to study maths and science
. This features a mock mission control centre, a planetarium
, a simulated rocky planet
surface and many other space
-related items.
RLFC are based at Royd Ings Avenue and as of 2010 they will play in the top domestic league, the Co-operative Championship. The ground's traditional name is Lawkholme Lane but has more recently been named Cougar Park
. Keighley RUFC
are based at Rose Cottage, Utley and play in Yorkshire league one.
Keighley is home to the Timothy Taylor Brewery
, the makers of several, Campaign for Real Ale
, Champion Beer of Britain
award-winning ales such as Landlord, Taylor's Best Bitter and Golden Best.
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 are The Sailmakers, Random Hand
,The Get Guns, Dead Message, Control Is Dead and Eyesore Angels. The British rock bands Skeletal Family
and Terrorvision
were also originally formed in Keighley.
Keighley Picture House
, a cinema on North Street 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 the Curzon Cinema which opened in Clevedon
, Somerset
in 1911 .
The Airedale Shopping Centre houses a statue of the giant Rombald holding a boulder above his head. 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
.
starring Josh Hartnett
, Alan Rickman
, and Bill 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.
The 2004 documentary Edge of the City, about the City of Bradford
social services, and the people and problems they deal with, was partly filmed in Keighley, and concerned sexual abuse of underage white
girls by some Asian
men.
Most of the 2004 film Yasmin was shot in Keighley. Written by Simon Beaufoy
and mostly filmed in Lawkholme, it tells the story of a British Muslim woman who has her life disrupted by the impact of the September 11 attacks on America. Mr Beaufoy said the film was originally set in Oldham
, Greater Manchester
, but "worked its way across the Pennines".
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
(KWVR), running steam trains from Keighley to Haworth
and Oxenhope
, has been used in several films, including The Railway Children
, Yanks
, and the film of the Pink Floyd
musical The Wall.
A great part of the 2004 BBC television drama
North and South was shot on Keighley, with Dalton Mill being one of the serial's main locations.
A Touch of Frost
starring David Jason
was also filmed at the railway line close to Ingrow West.
The 1950s
set British feature film Between 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. The same director's next film The Jealous God
(2005) also featured Keighley railway station
and nearby streets.
'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.
In 2003, The Idler
magazine set up an online poll to decide which were the 50 worst places to live in Britain. The results were published in the book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK
. Keighley came in at number 40. Keighley's local newspaper, the Keighley News
, reported the reaction of Councillor Andrew Mallinson, chairman of Keighley Town Centre Management Group: "On the positive side, it's nice to know that out of all the towns in the country, Keighley has got a mention! But on a serious note, as a group, we take any complaints or concerns seriously and are always striving to improve the town centre's image."
by Conservative
Member of Parliament
(MP) Kris Hopkins
, who won the seat at the 2010 general election, 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 elections 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.
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.
Keighley has had a town council since 2002.
A turf war between local drug gangs resulted in the murder of four Asian men in a five-and-a-half month period, from September 2001 to February 2002. Those killed were Yasser Hussain Nazir, Yasser Khan, Zaber Hussain and Qadir Ahmed. Qadir, was stabbed and beaten to death near Victoria Park after being ambushed and chased by rival gang members. The killings sparked a police investigation leading to the of a number of men who given long prison sentences.
Myrtle Beach
, South Carolina
Poix-du-Nord
, France Manzini, Swaziland
Metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...
of the City of Bradford
City of Bradford
The City of Bradford is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden and...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It is situated 11 miles (17.7 km) northwest of Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
and is at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
and the River Worth
River Worth
The River Worth is a river in West Yorkshire, England. It flows from minor tributaries on the moors above Watersheddles Reservoir down the Worth Valley to Haworth, where it is joined by Bridgehouse Beck which flows from Oxenhope...
. The town area, which is part of the Brontë Country
Brontë Country
The Brontë Country is a name given to an area of south Pennine hills west of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such literary classics as Jane Eyre , Wuthering Heights , and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall while living in the area.The geology of the...
, has a population of 51,429 (2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
), making it the third largest civil parish in England.
Keighley lies in a fold between the countryside of Airedale and Keighley Moors. The town is the terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is a long branch line that served mills and villages in the Worth Valley and is now a heritage railway line in West Yorkshire, England. It runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the national rail network line at Keighley railway station...
, a heritage steam branch line which has been restored and runs through the Worth Valley to Oxenhope
Oxenhope
Oxenhope is a village and civil parish with a population of 2,476 in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway...
via Oakworth
Oakworth
Oakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area....
and Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
.
History
The name Keighley, which has gone through many changes of spelling throughout its history, is accepted to mean "Cyhha's farm or clearing" and was mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, "In Cichhelai (Keighley), Ulchel, and Thole, and Ravensuar, and William had six carucate
Carucate
The carucate or ploughland was a unit of assessment for tax used in most Danelaw counties of England, and is found for example in Domesday Book. The carucate was based on the area a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season...
s to be taxed."
Henry de Kighley, a Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, was granted a charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 by King Edward I.
The poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
records of 1379 show population of Keighley, in the wapentake of Staincliffe
Staincliffe (wapentake)
Staincliffe, also known as Staincliff, was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It should not be confused with the hamlet Staincliffe.It was split into two divisions...
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
, was 109 people (47 couples and 15 single people).
The town's industries have typically been in textiles, particularly wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
processing. In addition to the manufacture of textiles there were several large factories making textile machinery. Two of these were Dean, Smith & Grace and Prince, Smith & Stell. The former operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precision lathe
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
s, until 2008.
The 1842 Leeds Directory description of Keighley reads "Its parish had no dependent townships though it is about six miles (10 km) long and four broad, and comprises 10160 acres (41.1 km²) of land (including a peaty moor of about 2000 acres (8.1 km²)) and a population which amounted, in the year 1801, to 5,745."
The town became a municipal borough
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
in 1882, but was merged into the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford
City of Bradford
The City of Bradford is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden and...
in 1974 under the Local Government Act
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
. 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.
Geography
Keighley lies at the confluenceConfluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the River Worth
River Worth
The River Worth is a river in West Yorkshire, England. It flows from minor tributaries on the moors above Watersheddles Reservoir down the Worth Valley to Haworth, where it is joined by Bridgehouse Beck which flows from Oxenhope...
and River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
in Airedale
Airedale
Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley of the River Aire . The valley stretches from the river's origin in Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Keighley and Bingley, through Leeds and Castleford and on to join the Humber...
, in the south Pennines
South Pennines
South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. It is bounded to the west by the Forest of Rossendale and the Yorkshire Dales to the north...
. Its northern boundary is with Bradley
Bradley, North Yorkshire
Bradley is a village in North Yorkshire, England, situated between Skipton and Keighley. It is around half a mile from the A629 and only 2 miles from the nearby town of Skipton. Bradley is divided into 2 parts; High Bradley and Low Bradley, known collectively as Bradleys Both although traditionally...
and its southern limit is the edge of Oxenhope
Oxenhope
Oxenhope is a village and civil parish with a population of 2,476 in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway...
. 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
Long Lee
Long Lee is a medium sized village located a mile from the town of Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.- Features :Long Lee is a mainly rural area which encompasses a primary school, a public house, a church, a chapel, a doctor's surgery, a post office, a pharmacy and an off-licence and a Scout Group...
and Thwaites Brow. The outlying northeastern suburb of Riddlesden
Riddlesden
Riddlesden is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley and on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Most of Riddlesden is made up of hills and steep land, like farms and even woodland. However the access to Riddlesden is good as it has close contacts with various main roads. As...
is sometimes 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 mentioned in the Domesday Book. Laycock is a conservation area which overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye.
The River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
passes through north eastern Keighley, dividing the neighbourhood of Stockbridge and running roughly parallel to the Leeds-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 in by floods 2000. Since then, millions have been spent on strengthening flood defences.
Other outlying villages around the town are Oakworth
Oakworth
Oakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area....
, Cross Roads
Cross Roads, West Yorkshire
Cross Roads with Lees or Cross Roads cum Lees, is a small village which lies on the main A629 road between the village of Haworth and the town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England....
, Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
, Stanbury
Stanbury
Stanbury is a small village in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, west of Haworth, close to the Pennine Way, and on the River Worth. It is approximately 4 miles from the town of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly moors and farmland, but the...
and Oxenhope
Oxenhope
Oxenhope is a village and civil parish with a population of 2,476 in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway...
. The two main settlements to the north are Silsden
Silsden
Silsden is a town and civil parish situated in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the northern slope of the Aire Valley between Keighley and Skipton. It is about from the river. Along the lower edge of the town is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
and Steeton
Steeton (village)
Steeton is a small village 6 miles away from Skipton and 3 miles away from Keighley. It is part of Steeton with Eastburn civil parish. It is a thriving village with a major hospital , a butchers, a newsagents, 3 hairdressers, a fruit shop, a chienese takeaway, a transport cafe, 2 parks, a bowling...
. 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 to the Keighley area, taking the population of the wider Keighley area up to 74,098(2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
.
To the north east is Rombald's Moor which contains many signs of stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
and bronze age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
occupation including cup and ring mark
Cup and ring mark
Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found mainly in Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean Europe although similar forms are also found throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and India, where...
s, and as it drops back down into Wharfedale
Wharfedale
Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...
and the town of Ilkley
Ilkley
Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the metropolitan borough of Bradford. Approximately north of Bradford, the town lies mainly on the south bank of the River Wharfe...
, approximately five miles away, becomes the more famous Ilkley Moor
Ilkley Moor
Ilkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m above sea level...
.
Demography
| Census Census in the United Kingdom Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with... population of the ancient parish/civil parish of Keighley |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 |
| Population | ||||||||||
| Source: Vision of Britain - Keighley AP/CP: Total Population. | ||||||||||
| Census population of the municipal borough of Keighley | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 † | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | ||
| Population | ||||||||||
| Source: Vision of Britain - Keighley MB: Total Population. | ||||||||||
† The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration Act
National Registration Act 1939
The National Registration Act 1939 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It became law on 5 September 1939 as an emergency measure at the start of World War II...
figures. The 1941 census did not take place because of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Amenities
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
, Sainsbury's and Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
which opened in 2009. There are several budget supermarkets such as Aldi
ALDI
ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
situated in small retail parks around the town. Keighley benefits from an electrified railway service with connections to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Shipley
Shipley, West Yorkshire
Shipley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford and north-west of Leeds....
, Bingley
Bingley
Bingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
, Skipton
Skipton
Skipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
, Carlisle
Carlisle railway station
Carlisle railway station, also known as Carlisle Citadel station, is a railway station whichserves the Cumbrian City of Carlisle, England, and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line, lying south of Glasgow Central, and north of London Euston...
and Morecambe
Morecambe
Morecambe is a resort town and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. As of 2001 it has a resident population of 38,917. It faces into Morecambe Bay...
and the Keighley and Worth Valley railway
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is a long branch line that served mills and villages in the Worth Valley and is now a heritage railway line in West Yorkshire, England. It runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the national rail network line at Keighley railway station...
is a heritage steam railway, which links the town with Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
, Oakworth
Oakworth
Oakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area....
and the Bronte Country
Brontë Country
The Brontë Country is a name given to an area of south Pennine hills west of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such literary classics as Jane Eyre , Wuthering Heights , and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall while living in the area.The geology of the...
.
Religion
Keighley has a parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
(St. Andrew's Shared Church) and is home to many Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
denominations. It has churches and places of worship for Anglicans, Methodists, United Reformed
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
, Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
, Quakers, Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
. Keighley has a significant Roman Catholic minority established in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Irish immigrants who came to work in the textile and weaving industries. Keighley has three Roman Catholic churches (St Anne's 1840, St Joseph's 1934 and Our Lady of Victories 1939) and four Roman Catholic schools (St Anne's 1857, St Joseph's 1922, Our Lady of Victories 1960 and Holy Family 1964).
The first spiritualist
Spiritualists' National Union
The Spiritualists' National Union is a Spiritualist organisation, founded in the United Kingdom in 1901, and is one of the largest spiritualist groups in the world. Its motto is Light, Nature, Truth....
church in Britain was founded at Keighley in 1853 by David Richmond, who although not originally from the town, stayed for many years, and helped to establish the movement throughout the country. Spiritualism died out after the Second World War, but the Keighley church remains open.
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s make up the second largest religious group in the town. According to the 2001 census there were about 8,000 Muslims in Keighley. Most had come to Britain in the 1960s from the Mirpur region of Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan, and the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. As of 2011 there were seven mosques in Keighley, including the purpose-built Markazi Jamia Masjid ('Central Community Mosque') in Emily Street, and the Ghosia Mosque, in Cark Road.
There is a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
centre on Lawkholme Crescent, in the town centre. The Keighley Kadampa Buddhist Centre is used by lay and ordained Buddhist practitioners and also runs day and evening classes for newcomers to the faith.
Architecture
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 many VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
buildings. The local millstone grit
Gritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
gives many of the buildings a distinctive look.
East Riddlesden Hall
East Riddlesden Hall
East Riddlesden Hall is a 17th century manor house in Keighley, West Yorkshire, now owned by the National Trust. The hall was built in 1642 by a wealthy Halifax clothier, James Murgatroyd. There is a medieval tithebarn in the grounds....
, Cliffe Castle Museum
Cliffe Castle Museum
Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England, is a local heritage museum which opened in the grand, Victorian, neo-Gothic Cliffe Castle in 1959. The museum is the successor to Keighley Museum which opened in Eastwood House, Keighley, in ca.1892. There is a series of galleries dedicated...
and Whinburn Mansion are fine, country houses. There are large town houses along Skipton
Skipton
Skipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
Road which contrast with the cramped rows of terraces in the streets behind them.
The town's central library was the first Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, Carnegie Public Library, Carnegie Free Library, Carnegie Free Public Library, Andrew Carnegie Library, Andrew Carnegie Free Library or Carnegie Library Building may refer to any of the following Carnegie libraries:- California :*Carnegie Library , listed on the National Register...
in England opened in 1904 with a grant of £10,000 from Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. 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 its 200 metre ornamental canopy. There is an award winning bus station which opened in 2002 near the Airedale Shopping Centre. There are several tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
s in Parkwood Rise, Holycroft and Ingrow
Ingrow
Ingrow is a suburb of Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.It is the location of the Ingrow Railway Centre with two railway museums: the Museum of Rail Travel owned by Vintage Carriages Trust, and Ingrow Loco, owned by the Bahamas Locomotive Society...
and a central multi-storey car park.
Amongst the modern houses in Laycock, 2 miles (3.2 km) outside Keighley town centre is a 17th century three-storey manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
(which is said to be the former wing of a much bigger property), converted barns and 18th century cottages.
Local attractions
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is a long branch line that served mills and villages in the Worth Valley and is now a heritage railway line in West Yorkshire, England. It runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the national rail network line at Keighley railway station...
, a heritage railway
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
that passes through Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
(part of the Brontë Country
Brontë Country
The Brontë Country is a name given to an area of south Pennine hills west of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such literary classics as Jane Eyre , Wuthering Heights , and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall while living in the area.The geology of the...
, home of Anne
Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a...
, Charlotte
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
and Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
) and terminates at Oxenhope
Oxenhope
Oxenhope is a village and civil parish with a population of 2,476 in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway...
. At Ingrow is the Museum of Rail Travel
Museum of Rail Travel
The Museum of Rail Travel at Ingrow, England is operated by the Vintage Carriages Trust , a charity based just north of Ingrow railway station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in West Yorkshire...
.
Top Withens
Top Withens
Top Withens is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England which is said to have been the inspiration for the location of the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the novel of the same name by Emily Brontë....
and the Brontë Waterfall
Brontë Waterfall
The Brontë Waterfall is a small waterfall located about a mile south west of Stanbury, near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. The area surrounding the waterfall is mainly moorland and farmland but is part of Brontë Country. It is an area of outstanding beauty and famous for its association with...
are within walking distance of Stanbury
Stanbury
Stanbury is a small village in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, west of Haworth, close to the Pennine Way, and on the River Worth. It is approximately 4 miles from the town of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly moors and farmland, but the...
, a mile and a half from Haworth. East Riddlesden Hall
East Riddlesden Hall
East Riddlesden Hall is a 17th century manor house in Keighley, West Yorkshire, now owned by the National Trust. The hall was built in 1642 by a wealthy Halifax clothier, James Murgatroyd. There is a medieval tithebarn in the grounds....
is close to Keighley.
Education
Local schools are University Academy Keighley (UAK) in Utley, Oakbank School, Parkside Comprehensive School in CullingworthCullingworth
Cullingworth is a village and civil parish in West Yorkshire, England, between Bradford and Haworth. The village is well known locally for holding events such as the Brontë Vintage Gathering every year and the Great Yorkshire Bike Show in 2005. The surrounding countryside is mainly used for sheep...
and The Holy Family Catholic School. These schools are for pupils aged 11 to 18.
The Keighley campus of Leeds City College
Leeds City College
Leeds City College is the largest Further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with around 57,000 students, 2,300 staff and an annual turnover of £78 million. It officially opened on 1 April 2009...
was located at the junction of North and Cavendish Streets in the town centre. However, this further and higher education college has had a new campus built in Dalton Lane, which opened its doors to staff and students in September 2010. The college includes a nationally acclaimed 'Star Centre' facility, designed to encourage more young people to study maths and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. This features a mock mission control centre, a planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
, a simulated rocky planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
surface and many other space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
-related items.
Sport and entertainment
Keighley CougarsKeighley Cougars
Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. As of 2012 they will play in Co-operative Championship having won the Co-operative Championship 1 play off final 32-12 against Workington...
RLFC are based at Royd Ings Avenue and as of 2010 they will play in the top domestic league, the Co-operative Championship. The ground's traditional name is Lawkholme Lane but has more recently been named Cougar Park
Cougar Park
Cougar Park is a multi-purpose stadium in Keighley, England. It is used mostly for rugby league matches, as the home stadium of Keighley Cougars and football as the new home of Silsden F.C.. Its capacity is 7,800 people. It also hosted a match during the 1995 Rugby League World Cup...
. Keighley RUFC
Keighley RUFC
Keighley RUFC is a Rugby Union club based in Keighley, West Yorkshire. The club currently play in Yorkshire 1.- History :Keighley R.U.F.C. was formed by a group of old boys of Keighley Grammar School in 1920. It’s name was first changed to Keighlians R.U.F.C...
are based at Rose Cottage, Utley and play in Yorkshire league one.
Keighley is home to the Timothy Taylor Brewery
Timothy Taylor Brewery
Timothy Taylor is a regional brewery founded in 1858 by Timothy Taylor. Originally based in Cook Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England they moved to larger premises in 1863 at Knowle Spring, where they remain to this day.-Landlord:...
, the makers of several, Campaign for Real Ale
Campaign for Real Ale
The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub...
, Champion Beer of Britain
Champion Beer of Britain
The Champion Beer of Britain is an award presented by the Campaign for Real Ale , at their annual Great British Beer Festival in early August. Beers can qualify in three ways:...
award-winning ales such as Landlord, Taylor's Best Bitter and Golden Best.
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 are The Sailmakers, Random Hand
Random Hand
Random Hand is a British ska band, formed in Keighley in 2002. Their sound fuses influences from many genres, including ska, reggae, punk rock, metal, hip hop and dub. The band is typically associated with the punk subculture, due to its ethics and lyrical content...
,The Get Guns, Dead Message, Control Is Dead and Eyesore Angels. The British rock bands Skeletal Family
Skeletal Family
Skeletal Family were an English gothic rock band which formed in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England in December 1982. The band formed from the remaining membership of an earlier group, called The Elements, and took their name from the title of the song "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family"...
and Terrorvision
Terrorvision
Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 in Keighley, and initially disbanded in 2001...
were also originally formed in Keighley.
Keighley Picture House
Keighley Picture House
Keighley Picture House is a cinema located in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.It opened in 1913 as a single screen cinema with stalls and balcony seating. In the years to come it was used for live shows and pop concerts as well as regular film screenings. In the 1970s, it was converted into a...
, a cinema on North Street 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 the Curzon Cinema which opened in Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
in 1911 .
The Airedale Shopping Centre houses a statue of the giant Rombald holding a boulder above his head. 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
Ilkley Moor
Ilkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m above sea level...
.
In film
Keighley was the setting for the film Blow DryBlow Dry
Blow Dry is a 2001 comedy film directed by Paddy Breathnach, written by Simon Beaufoy and starring Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson and Josh Hartnett.-Plot:...
starring Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
, Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, and Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
. 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
Warren Clarke
-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
) 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.
The 2004 documentary Edge of the City, about the City of Bradford
City of Bradford
The City of Bradford is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden and...
social services, and the people and problems they deal with, was partly filmed in Keighley, and concerned sexual abuse of underage white
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
girls by some Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
men.
Most of the 2004 film Yasmin was shot in Keighley. Written by Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
and mostly filmed in Lawkholme, it tells the story of a British Muslim woman who has her life disrupted by the impact of the September 11 attacks on America. Mr Beaufoy said the film was originally set in Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, but "worked its way across the Pennines".
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is a long branch line that served mills and villages in the Worth Valley and is now a heritage railway line in West Yorkshire, England. It runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the national rail network line at Keighley railway station...
(KWVR), running steam trains from Keighley to Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
and Oxenhope
Oxenhope
Oxenhope is a village and civil parish with a population of 2,476 in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway...
, has been used in several films, including The Railway Children
The Railway Children (film)
The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...
, Yanks
Yanks
Yanks is a 1979 John Schlesinger film, set in World War II in the village of Dobcross, in Greater Manchester, England. Starring Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave, William Devane, Lisa Eichhorn, Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody....
, and the film of the Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
musical The Wall.
A great part of the 2004 BBC television drama
BBC television drama
BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom...
North and South was shot on Keighley, with Dalton Mill being one of the serial's main locations.
A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
starring David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
was also filmed at the railway line close to Ingrow West.
The 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
set British feature film Between Two Women
Between Two Women
Between Two Women is a 1950s set feature film by British writer-director Steven Woodcock. It tells the story of Ellen, a factory worker’s wife trapped in an unhappy marriage amidst the grime and industrial noise of north England.-Plot:...
(2000) was filmed extensively in and around Keighley and its mills, in particular around the railway and close to the main town railway station. The same director's next film The Jealous God
The Jealous God (film)
The Jealous God is a 1960s set feature film by British writer-director Steven Woodcock. It is based on the novel by John Braine. The opening scenes were filmed in the grammar school in Bradford where Braine was once a pupil...
(2005) also featured Keighley railway station
Keighley railway station
Keighley railway station serves the town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England.First opened in March 1847 by the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway , the station is located on the Airedale Line north west of Leeds. It is managed by Northern Rail, who operate most of the passenger trains...
and nearby streets.
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 WellingtonDuke of Wellington
The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title in the senior rank of the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first holder of the title was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , the noted Irish-born career British Army officer and statesman, and...
's elite 95th Rifle Regiment and fought in ten battles against the French in Spain, France and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
including the Spanish Peninsula War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
and the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, 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
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
's saga about Major Richard Sharpe
Richard Sharpe (fictional character)
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series wherein the eponymous character was played by Sean Bean....
. The TV series episode Sharpe's Justice
Sharpe's Justice
Sharpe's Justice is a British television drama, part of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike most of the other installments of the series, this episode was not based on a novel by Bernard Cornwell...
, which focuses on the roots of the title character, is set in and around Keighley.
Notable people with Keighley links
The following people were born in Keighley, have lived there in the past or are currently resident in the town.- Ian Dewhirst, Former librarian of Keighley MBEMBEMBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
local historian. - Simon BeaufoySimon BeaufoySimon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
, An Oscar, Bafta and Golden GlobeGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
award-winning British screenwriter who was born in Keighley - Gordon BottomleyGordon BottomleyGordon Bottomley was an English poet, known particularly for his verse dramas. He was partly disabled by tubercular illness. His main influences were the later Victorian Romantic poets, the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris.- Background :...
, a Victorian era poet (1874–1948) was born and educated in Keighley - Brontë SistersBrontëThe Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
, lived in the village of HaworthHaworthHaworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
, which is two miles (3 km) south of Keighley- AnneAnne BrontëAnne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a...
(17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) - CharlotteCharlotte BrontëCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
(21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) - EmilyEmily BrontëEmily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
(30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848)
- Anne
- Alastair CampbellAlastair CampbellAlastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...
, former Labour party spin doctorSpin (public relations)In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
who was born in Keighley - John Tiplady CarrodusJohn Tiplady CarrodusJohn Tiplady Carrodus was an English violinist. He was born on 20 January 1836, at Keighley, in Yorkshire. He made his first appearance as a violinist at the age of nine, and had the advantage of studying between the ages of twelve and eighteen at Stuttgart, with Bernhard Molique. On his return to...
(1836–1895) was a violinist - Kiki DeeKiki DeeKiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....
, successful singer-songwriter, originally from BradfordBradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, whose career spanned 40 years - Jake WrightJake WrightJake Maxwell Wright is an English footballer who plays for Oxford United, a club he captains. He started his career with Bradford City, but played only one senior game for them, before he joined Halifax Town where he had previously spent a loan spell...
, professional footballer who plays for Oxford united - Peter HartleyPeter HartleyPeter John Hartley is an English first-class cricketer and umpire.Hartley made his debut for Warwickshire in 1982. He moved to Yorkshire in 1985, and stayed there until 1997, when he relocated to Hampshire...
, former county cricketer for WarwickshireWarwickshire County Cricket ClubWarwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
and HampshireHampshire County Cricket ClubHampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it... - Denis HealeyDenis HealeyDenis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...
, a prominent Labour party politician who has previously served as Chancellor of the ExchequerChancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
and Secretary of State for DefenceSecretary of State for DefenceThe Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position... - Mike HellawellMike HellawellMichael Stephen "Mike" Hellawell is a former professional footballer who played two games for England in 1962 against France and Northern Ireland.His brother John was also a professional player.-Career:...
, professional footballer who made two appearances for England and also played for Birmingham CityBirmingham City F.C.Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, Queens Park RangersQueens Park Rangers F.C.Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
and SunderlandSunderland A.F.C.Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League... - Trevor HockeyTrevor HockeyTrevor Hockey was a professional footballer. His professional career spanned 16 years, seven clubs and almost 600 appearances, plus nine international caps for Wales.-Playing career:...
, Welsh international footballer, who also played with Bradford CityBradford City A.F.C.Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
and Birmingham CityBirmingham City F.C.Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the... - Sir Isaac Holden, 1st Baronet (1807–1897) was an inventor and manufacturer, known for lucifer matches, and served as Liberal MP for Keighley 1888–1895
- Paul HudsonPaul HudsonPaul David Hudson is a weather presenter for BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England.-Education:...
, a local television weather forecaster was born in the town - Saima Hussain, first Asian female rugby player to represent Great Britain
- Keith JessopKeith JessopKeith Jessop was a British salvage diver and successful marine treasure hunter.-Early life:Born in Keighley as the son of a penniless Yorkshire mill-worker, he left school without a single qualification, but to make ends meet he started salvaging scrap metal from shallow water wrecks off the coast...
, a famous salvage diver and successful marine treasure hunter - Peter Judson, a former boxer who challenged for the British featherweightFeatherweightFeatherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
title in the 1990s - Henry de Kighley, granted the first charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 by King Edward I
- John Kilcoyne, a star of the television programme Brainiac: Science AbuseBrainiac: Science AbuseBrainiac: Science Abuse is a British entertainment TV show with a science motif. Numerous experiments are carried out in each show, often to verify whether common conceptions are true or simply to create impressive explosions...
was born and raised in Keighley - Dougie LampkinDougie LampkinDouglas Martin "Dougie" Lampkin, MBE, also known as Doug, is an internationally renowned English motorcycle trials rider. Born into a family steeped in motorcycle sport—his father, Martin Lampkin, was the first FIM Trial World Championship winner in 1975, and his Uncle Arthur was also a regular...
, born SilsdenSilsdenSilsden is a town and civil parish situated in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the northern slope of the Aire Valley between Keighley and Skipton. It is about from the river. Along the lower edge of the town is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
is an internationally renowned motorcycle trials rider - Tommy LeeTommy Lee (footballer)Thomas Edward "Tommy" Lee is an English football goalkeeper, who plays for Chesterfield....
, who is a goalkeeper for Macclesfield TownMacclesfield Town F.C.Macclesfield Town Football Club is an English football team. The club was formed in 1874 and is based in the town of Macclesfield in Cheshire. The team play its home games at the 6,355 capacity Moss Rose stadium... - Peter MayhewPeter MayhewPeter Mayhew is an English actor known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. His peak height was tall.-Career:...
, British actor who played ChewbaccaChewbaccaChewbacca, also known as Chewie, is a character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Peter Mayhew. In the series' narrative chronology, he appears in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
in the Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
films, lived in Keighley between 1987 and 2000 - Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, or R. A. Nicholson, (Keighley, 18 August 1868 — ChesterChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
27 August 1945) was an eminent English orientalist, scholar of both Islamic literatureIslamic literatureIslamic literature is literature written with an Islamic perspective, in any language.The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , which was a compilation of many earlier folk tales told by the Persian Queen Scheherazade...
and Islamic mysticism, and widely regarded as one of the greatest Rumi scholars and translators in the English language. - George Nicholson (1760–1825), printer, was born in Keighley
- Eric PicklesEric PicklesEric Jack Pickles is a British Conservative Party politician. Pickles was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron on 12 May 2010....
, a former Chairman of the Conservative PartyChairman of the Conservative PartyIn the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
was born in the town - Claire RaynerClaire RaynerClaire Berenice Rayner OBE was an English nurse, journalist, broadcaster and novelist, best known for her role for many years as an agony aunt.-Early life:...
, (1931–2010) a television agony aunt who lived in Keighley as an evacueeEvacuations of civilians in Britain during World War IIEvacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to save the population of urban or military areas in the United Kingdom from aerial bombing of cities and military targets such as docks. Civilians, particularly children, were moved to areas thought to be less at risk....
during the Second World War - Michael SamsMichael SamsMichael Sams is an English rapist, kidnapper, extortionist and murderer who kidnapped Julie Dart on 9 July 1991 and Stephanie Slater on 22 January 1992....
murderer - Geoff SmithGeoff Smith (footballer)Geoffrey "Geoff" Smith is an English former professional footballer who played 253 league games for Bradford City as a goalkeeper, including 200 consecutive appearances...
, a former Bradford City goalkeeper, lives in Keighley - Philip SnowdenPhilip Snowden, 1st Viscount SnowdenPhilip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden PC was a British politician and the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931.-Early life: 1864–1906:...
The first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was born in the Colne Valley. He was also the editor of the Keighley Labour Journal and in 1906 became the MP for Blackburn. - Mollie SugdenMollie SugdenIsobel Mary 'Mollie' Sugden was an English comedy actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the British sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour, which ran from 1992 to 1993...
(1922–2009), television comedy actress - Sir John Taylor, Baron IngrowJohn Taylor, Baron IngrowJohn Aked Taylor, Baron Ingrow, OBE, TD, DL, JP, was a British soldier and politician.Born to Percy and Gladys Taylor, he was educated at Shrewsbury School...
, Lord IngrowIngrowIngrow is a suburb of Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.It is the location of the Ingrow Railway Centre with two railway museums: the Museum of Rail Travel owned by Vintage Carriages Trust, and Ingrow Loco, owned by the Bahamas Locomotive Society...
, (1917–2002) a soldier and politician. From 1985 to 1992 he was Lord Lieutenant of West YorkshireLord Lieutenant of West YorkshireThe office of Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire was created on 1 April 1974.*Kenneth Hargreaves 1 April 1974 – 1978 *William Bulmer 1978–1985*John Taylor, Baron Ingrow 1985–1992... - Timothy Taylor, local brewer who opened the Timothy Taylor BreweryTimothy Taylor BreweryTimothy Taylor is a regional brewery founded in 1858 by Timothy Taylor. Originally based in Cook Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England they moved to larger premises in 1863 at Knowle Spring, where they remain to this day.-Landlord:...
in 1858 - Percy VearPercy VearPercy Vear , born Herman Vear in Crossflatts, Bingley, England. He was a British Professional Boxer during the 1920s and 1930s.Brought up in Crossflatts during the first World War, Vear lived in Keighley all his adult life....
, (12 July 1911 – 16 March 1983), was a British Professional Boxer during the 1920s and 1930s - Ricky WilsonRicky Wilson (British musician)Ricky Wilson is the lead singer of English band Kaiser Chiefs. Wilson has also been on the panel of the BBC Television comedy series Shooting Stars in 2009, Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2005, and was a guest host on the show in 2006.-Character and Style:Wilson is well known for wearing stripy...
, of Leeds five-piece Kaiser ChiefsKaiser ChiefsKaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 1996. They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs....
, is a native of Keighley - Margaret WintringhamMargaret WintringhamMargaret Wintringham , née Longbottom, was a British Liberal Party politician. She was the second woman to take her seat in the British House of Commons.- Early life :...
(1879–1955), the second woman to take a seat in the House of CommonsBritish House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members... - Leigh Marklew, of Bradford rock band TerrorvisionTerrorvisionTerrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 in Keighley, and initially disbanded in 2001...
, is a native of Keighley - Frank WhitcombeFrank WhitcombeFrank William Whitcombe was a Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1930s and '40s who played rugby union for Cardiff RFC, London Welsh RFC, and Army Rugby Union, playing at Prop, i.e...
(1913–1958) Bradford NorthernBradford BullsBradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
& Great BritainGreat Britain national rugby league teamThe Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....
International Rugby League player - Frank Whitcombe JrFrank Whitcombe JrFrank William Whitcombe was a Rugby Union footballer of the 1950s, '60s and '70s who played Rugby Union for Bradford RFC, Keighley RUFC and Army Rugby Union, playing at Prop, i.e...
(1936–2010) Bradford RFC YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
RUFC & North Eastern Counties RUFC - Martin WhitcombeMartin WhitcombeMartin Alun Whitcombe is a former Rugby Union Footballer of the 80's and 90's.He learnt to play rugby at Keighley RUFC and went on to have a long playing career for Leicester Tigers, Bedford RFC, Sale FC, and Leeds Tykes, at prop i.e. 1 or 3...
Leicester TigersLeicester TigersLeicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...
, YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
RUFC & England 'B'England SaxonsEngland Saxons is the current name of England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England A...
International Rugby Union player.
Opinions about Keighley
The town was mentioned in the John Cooper Clarke poem, Burnley: "I'll tell you now and I'll tell you briefly, I don't never want to go to Keighley." However, many residents do not feel this way about the town and are proud of its history and character.In 2003, The Idler
The Idler (1993)
The Idler is a yearly British magazine devoted to its ethos of 'idling'. Founded in 1993 by Tom Hodgkinson and Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the publication's intention is to return dignity to the art of loafing, to make idling into something to aspire towards rather than reject.The magazine combines the...
magazine set up an online poll to decide which were the 50 worst places to live in Britain. The results were published in the book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK
Crap Towns
Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK and Crap Towns II: The Nation Decides are a series of humorous books edited by Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran and published in association with UK Quarterly The Idler. Towns in the UK were nominated by visitors to The Idler Website for their...
. Keighley came in at number 40. Keighley's local newspaper, the Keighley News
Keighley News
The Keighley News is a weekly newspaper based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. As well as Keighley, its circulation area includes Cross Hills, Cullingworth, Denholme, East Morton, Haworth, Oxenhope, Silsden and Steeton....
, reported the reaction of Councillor Andrew Mallinson, chairman of Keighley Town Centre Management Group: "On the positive side, it's nice to know that out of all the towns in the country, Keighley has got a mention! But on a serious note, as a group, we take any complaints or concerns seriously and are always striving to improve the town centre's image."
Politics
Keighley is represented in the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
by Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) Kris Hopkins
Kris Hopkins
Kristan Frederick Hopkins is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Keighley in West Yorkshire.-Political career:...
, who won the seat at the 2010 general election, taking over from Ann Cryer
Ann Cryer
Constance Ann Cryer JP is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Keighley from the 1997 general election up until she stood down at the 2010 general election...
who had been in office since 1997.
Keighley was contested by the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP) in the May 2005 general elections when the party's leader Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
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.
In June 2006, the leader of Bradford District Council
City of Bradford
The City of Bradford is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden and...
, Conservative Councillor Kris Hopkins, was quoted in the Craven Herald & Pioneer
Craven Herald & Pioneer
The Craven Herald & Pioneer is a weekly newspaper covering the Craven area of North Yorkshire as well as part of the Pendle area of Lancashire. Up until 29 October 2009 it remained one of only two weekly papers in the United Kingdom that continued to have a front page consisting wholly of...
as suggesting it might be a good idea for Keighley to become an independent authority once again.
Keighley has had a town council since 2002.
A turf war between local drug gangs resulted in the murder of four Asian men in a five-and-a-half month period, from September 2001 to February 2002. Those killed were Yasser Hussain Nazir, Yasser Khan, Zaber Hussain and Qadir Ahmed. Qadir, was stabbed and beaten to death near Victoria Park after being ambushed and chased by rival gang members. The killings sparked a police investigation leading to the of a number of men who given long prison sentences.
Town twinning
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
Poix-du-Nord
Poix-du-Nord
-References:*...
, France Manzini, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...