Ilkley
Ilkley is a town in the
metropolitan borough of Bradford in
West Yorkshire,
England, built on the south bank and valley of the
River Wharfe in
Wharfedale.
Ilkley is a prosperous town with a resident population of 13,828, as measured by
Census 2001.
The town has a thriving town centre. Much of the architecture is of
Victorian design from a time when Ilkley was promoted as a
spa town; consequently it is aesthetically pleasing, emphasised by the width of the main streets (Brook Street and The Grove), which - especially in the latter case - appear purpose-designed to enable visitors to promenade.
It has little else by way of industry or commerce, though it is the
UK home of
The Woolmark Company.
Ilkley is home to the largest and oldest literary festival in the north of England, the
Ilkley Literature Festival. The annual
Moor Music Festival also takes place just outside the town at Addingham Moorside, promoting
green politics and social issues.
In
2004, Ilkley won the
Britain in Bloom contest, in the category of 'Town'.
Rombald's Moor and
Ilkley Moor, above and to the south of the town, are the location for a famous folk song,
'On Ilkla Moor Baht'at ("On Ilkley Moor without a hat").
The southern skyline is dominated by the millstone grit outcrops known as the
Cow and Calf Rocks, which offer a number of
rock climbing routes of up to about 15 metres in height.
The town is 700 feet above sea level and lies in a wide valley with the River Wharfe and pastoral farmland to the north, and Ilkley Moor, a bracken and heather moorland with rocky outcrops, to the south.
The river runs through the north extent of the town from west to east, and is crossed by four bridges, in order: a
16th-century three-arched stone bridge, now closed to road traffic; a
19th-century single-span wrought-iron bridge, a
suspension bridge for foot traffic only (a set of concrete stepping stones) and a prefabricated steel arched box-girder bridge. The river is prone to flooding the sports fields (and a few houses) that occupy the
watermeadows.
Nearby villages are
Denton,
Burley-in-Wharfedale,
Bolton Abbey, Middleton,
Addingham, Addingham Moorside as well as
Menston and a larger town,
Guiseley.
The town is within the travel-to-work radius of
Leeds and
Bradford, Leeds being 17 miles away and Bradford 9, with a railway connection offering about 35 trains to each destination per day. The railway, before the
Beeching axe, also connected to Addingham,
Bolton Abbey, and
Skipton to the west, and to
Otley,
Pool-in-Wharfedale, meeting the main Leeds to
Harrogate line at
Arthington.
The area around Ilkley has been continuously settled since at least the early
Bronze Age, around 1800 BC; cup and ring markings, and
swastika carvings dating to the period have been found on rock outcrops, and archaeological remains of dwellings are found on the moor. The
Romans built a fort in AD 79, which some suggest was named
Olicana (although the name is not universally accepted), on a site now near the centre of the town, but with the exception of some few sections of wall, it is now covered partly by the
Elizabethan Manor House Art Gallery and Museum and partly by All Saints' Church.
Three
Anglo-Saxon crosses formerly in the churchyard of All Saints, but now removed into the church to prevent further erosion, date to the
8th century.
Although relatively inaccessible in the 17th and 18th centuries, the town gained a minor reputation for the efficacy of its water. In the nineteenth century it became established as one of the more fashionable
spa towns, with the construction a mile to the east of the town of the vast Ben Rhydding Hydro or
Hydropathic Establishment in
1843-4. Tourists flocked here to 'take the waters' and bathe in the cold water spring. The eastern part of the town is now called Ben Rhydding, after the Hydro, despite it having been demolished many years ago; the area was formerly known as Wheatley.
Development based on the Hydro movement, and upon the establishment of a number of convalescent homes and hospitals was accelerated by the establishment of a railway connections from Leeds and Bradford in 1865.
Charles Darwin was undergoing hydropathic treatment at Wells House when his
Origin of Species was published in 1859. Other famous Victorian visitors to the town included
Madame Tussaud. Today, the only remaining Hydro is the cottage known as White Wells House, which can be seen on the edge of the famous moor over-looking the town.
In the 20th century Ilkley has become a relatively wealthy dormitory town for the nearby cities of
Leeds and
Bradford.
In
1967 Jimi Hendrix played at the Troutbeck Hotel (now a nursing home). However the show was cut short by the police. The local newspaper headline read: Pop Fans Ran Amok in Hotel: They ripped off doors, pulled out electrical fittings and smashed furniture after a police sergeant stepped on stage and stopped Hendrix half-way through a number.
On the moor are several mounds of rocks, or cairns. These are known as the
skirtful cairns. The story has it that Rombald was a giant who lived on the moor. One day, his wife was angry at him and collected rocks to throw at him. She collected the rocks by holding up her skirt and dropping them into the it. The skirt ripped and rocks fell out in piles, thus the name
skirtful cairns.
The spectral hound, known as the
Barguest is supposed to appear on the moors above Ilkley and
Otley as a portent of doom. The alleged sightings of a huge black dog descending from the moor have mostly occurred near the Cow and Calf rocks.
*
Gillian Baverstock, daughter of
Enid Blyton.
*
Martyn Bedford, novelist.
*
Don Brennan (deceased), England cricketer.
*
Jilly Cooper, novelist (former resident).
*
John Cunliffe, children's novelist and
television presenter.
*
Anthony Earnshaw (deceased), anarchist and
surrealist author and illustrator.
*
Gomez, British rock band (resident during the production of their Mercury Music Prize-winning album
Bring It On).
*
Neil Hanson, author.
*
Georgie Henley, actress.
*
Rachael Henley, actress.
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The Right Reverend and
Right Honourable David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes (formerly
Archbishop of York).
*
Clive Hornby, actor.
*
Tom Jackson (deceased),
trade unionist.
*
Mark James, professional golfer.
*
Paul Jewell,
Wigan Athletic F.C. manager.
*
David Jones,
Yorkshire County Cricket Club president and former
NEXT chairman.
*
Ian Linnegan, entrepreneur.
*
Sir Edward Maufe (deceased), architect.
*
Albert Modley (deceased), comedian.
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Colin Montgomerie, professional golfer (former resident).
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Alan Silson, musician and lead guitarist of rock band
Smokie.
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John Thirwell, former
BBC Look North producer and presenter.
*
John Thorne,
BBC North of England correspondent.
*
Alan Titchmarsh, celebrity gardener (former resident).
*
Richard Whiteley (deceased),
television presenter and
journalist.
*
Ricky Wilson, lead singer of rock band
Kaiser Chiefs (former resident).
*
Arthur Wood (deceased), England cricketer.
*
Nick Wood,
journalist.
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The official visitor site for Ilkley*
Ilkley Parish Council*
The Ilkley Community Website at Ilkley.org*
Ilkley Online Community Website*
Ilkleymore website*
Ilkleyway website
