East Keswick Millennium Book A thousand year history of a Domesday Book village © 2000 East Keswick Millennium Book Written and published by the East Keswick Millennium Group ISBN 0-9538815-0-4 © Copyright East Keswick Millennium Group 2000 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. All rights reserved East Keswick Millennium Group Secretary: A J Batty, 6 Keswick Grange, East Keswick LS17 9BX [email protected] www.eastkeswick.org.uk Printed in England Designed and typeset by Creative Marketing Services iv Editor Andrew Batty Writers & Researchers Colin Asher Andrew Batty Joyce Evans Bruce Jagger Liz Parr Additional Research Shirley Doyle Margaret Moseley John Simpson Melanie Smith East Keswick Millennium Group Management VictorWatson CBE (Chairman) Andrew Batty (Secretary) Duncan Pidsley (Treasurer) Erica Smith (Advertising and Sponsorship) Shirley Doyle Jan Dower Bruce Jagger Liz Parr Melanie Smith Pat Stodart The writers and researchers would particularly like to acknowledge the assistance given by the librarians and archivists of Leeds City Libraries,WestYorkshire Archives at Sheepscar andWakefield,Yorkshire Archaeological Society, the Borthwick Institute at the University ofYork, the Brotherton collection of the University of Leeds, the Museum of the History of Education at the University of Leeds and numerous villagers including Mrs F Brierley, Mrs J Gallant and the East Keswick Parish Council, Derek Illingworth, Pam Prior, Ron Sudderdean, JoanWaide and AnneWragg v The East Keswick Millennium Book could not have been possible without the generous financial support of a wide number of individuals and organisations. These included The ScarmanTrust and theYorkshire Post Newspapers backed ‘Can Do’ initiative Peter Asquith vii a million miles from anywhere... ...yet only minutes from the city. Trip Lane, Linton, West Yorkshire LS22 4JA Tel: 01937 587271 Fax: 01937 584353 Email: [email protected] www.arcadianhotels.co.uk From jogging tracks, to badger watching, to woodland paint-ball, to safari archery, to eastern therapies, to days of luxury, to wedding ceremonies, to anniversaries, to an evening of music, to afternoon tea... think of Wood Hall. R. ILLINGWORTH LTD. Butchers of Distinction Main Street, East Keswick % 10937 572815 Email: [email protected] Patrons The East Keswick Millennium Group will always be indebted to the following villagers who had the confidence in the project and the team to donate towards making the idea a reality. Alyson Ballman Ken Gale Mr & Mrs Stubbs Sandra Gardiner Richard & SarahWatson Mrs Carol Brown Mr & Mrs Illingworth Kimberly Margaret Dee Arthur Marshall Nicholas Paul James Dee Shelagh Day Jane & Allan Beardsworth Allen Day Josephine Alice Mather-Hunter Victor & SheilaWatson PaulWinter David Lupton Judith Bentley Susan Lupton Anthony & Simone Marcus Dr Christopher & MrsWendyWatson Georgina Ravenscroft PeterWatson Patrick Henry In Memoriam: Michael Bartlett Gillian (Gilly)Watson 1971-1993 D & E Loncraine Robert &WendyWray East Keswick Parish Council Doris Crowther Robin Clark Eleanor Jane Cooper Steve & Kate Holliday Other donations were received from Miss Charlotte E Mackie Barclays Bank plc (Roger Browne) Mrs A J Kellet David & Melanie Smith The Priestley Family Mr & Mrs J MThornton Gill & Bobby Hinchliffe Mr Hanen JohnW Eaton BEng CEng MIEE Sylvia Pinkney Robert G Illingworth, John D Eddie & ElizabethTinsley Illingworth & Kay C Illingworth/Jones Peter Gallant Margaret Anne Fairley Mrs F MWatson ix Sovereign House PO Box 8 Sovereign Street Leeds LS1 1HQ Tel 0113 209 2000 Law Firm Fax 0113 209 2000 of the Year 100 Barbirolli Square Manchester Addleshaw Booth & Co M2 3AB Tel 0161 934 6000 is delighted to support Fax 0161 934 6060 East Keswick, the Millennium Village 60 Cannon Street London To sample our nationally recognised expertise, EC4N 6NP contact either Paul Lee, Senior Partner or Mark Jones, Managing Partner Tel 020 7982 5000 Fax 020 7982 5060 www.addleshaw-booth.co.uk ke ofW ell D u ing e to h n T • Video/CD Rom production • Media Training • Video News Releases • Broadcast Counsultancy Family run pub by Work with Professional Jayne, Nick Burrell and children Broadcast Journalists Contact Erica Smith on: Modern and contemporary cooking at 01937 572343 The Blue Room Email us on: [email protected] Bush House, Brooklands, East Keswick, Leeds LS17 9DD Contents Patrons ix Preface xiii Foreword by Lord Harewood xvii Introduction xix 1 The first five hundred years 1 2 Tudor and Stuart days 13 3 Land ownership 1739-1951: the Lascelles factor 25 4 Farming in the Eighteenth Century 37 5 The Enclosure Act changes all 49 6 Farms, smallholdings and nurseries 59 7 Religion 79 8 East Keswick schools and schooldays - Education for all 1815-1914 87 9 TheVillage School: A century of change, 1914-1990 103 10 Transport & turnpikes 121 11 Notable houses 129 12 The village expands 147 13 WildlifeTrust 177 14 A vibrant social scene 183 15 The final night of a thousand years 195 xi Smith Devenish Commercial Property Development and Investment Meadow House, East Keswick Preface In the summer of 1998, with the millennium only eighteen months distant, many communities across the world started to consider how to mark this epoch in a befitting way. In East Keswick, the Parish Council appealed for ideas and a public meeting was called to discuss the contenders. There had been two previous booklets about the village published by the Women’s Institute, but no larger scale book had ever been produced.Andrew Batty proposed that this be corrected and that a book be attempted to begin from the year 1000AD and to progress all the way through to Millennium Eve 1999. It was an ambitious project but one which won overwhelming support. A Millennium Group was properly constituted under the chairmanship of Victor Watson and a significant number of villagers were eager to help in any way they could. One way was through involvement in the Millennium Group’s second project. For apart from this book, a millennium gala weekend was planned for midsummer 2000, and so it came about that during three scorching summer days in June the village was treated to a flower festival, traditional village gala, barn dance and musical concert. This book was, however, much the most ambitious project financially, and raising the funds to make this enterprise possible was a major task. The group approached a significant number of charitable trusts, potential advertisers and appealed for patrons. The fundraising effort got off to a flying start with a reception on the terrace of Harewood House. Erica Smith who had volunteered to take on the task of advertising, sponsorship and donations proved a major asset to the team and a significant stage was reached when Andrew Batty made a successful presentation to the ScarmanTrust which resulted in a £2000 grant. This grant was backed by the Yorkshire Evening Post as part of their ‘Can Do’ initative and the newspaper - together with Wetherby News - gave valuable publicity to our efforts. Every press mention was followed by mail from across the UK; some from former villagers, others from those with affectionate childhood memories of the village from camping trips or Sunday School outings. Finally, in mid 2000, with the book almost written, the Countryside Agency completed xiii 125 years old and still in great shape for the new Millennium! The Millennium has seen Leeds & Holbeck Building Society reach a landmark 125 years of continuous quality service to the people ofYorkshire. Looking forward to the next 125 years of mutuality, we remain dedicated to the needs of our members, taking care of you – not shareholders. As one of the top 10 building societies, with over 60 branches, Leeds & Holbeck still provides the kind of personal service that existed back in the early days. And, with 20 branches in the Leeds area alone, you really don't have to go very far to enjoy the great range of products available. Head Office: 105 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5AS www.leeds-holbeck.co.uk MILLENNIUM BOOK our fund raising efforts with a grant exceeding five thousand pounds.Their support was the catalyst behind the evolution of the writing team into a local history group which aimed to continue uncovering the area’s rich heritage in the following years. For the previous two years the small volunteer writing group had invested vast amounts of their own free time checking archive information, speaking to people with first hand memories and finding the missing pieces of a jigsaw of historical data. Colin Asher was our writer responsible for the education sections of our book. Joyce Evans toiled over deeds, tithes and wrote the chapters on farming and land ownership. Bruce Jagger took on religion and notable houses, whilst Liz Parr covered the difficult to research early centuries. Andrew Batty compiled the remaining chapters on transport, village expansion and the closing years of the twentieth century. Of course this is a very simplistic summary of each core-writer’s involvement. In truth, almost everyone had some involvement in each chapter.Two years on and sixty thousand words later, this is the result.We hope you enjoy it. Andrew Batty October 2000 xv 24 hour banking by telephone or internet 0800 24 24 24 Accounts opened subject to status. To maintain a quality service, calls may be monitored and/or recorded. First Direct is a division of HSBC Bank plc. Foreword By the Earl of Harewood I have always been fascinated by history - glamorous, hard-to-envisage events like the Armada or the Field of the Cloth of Gold or the Crusades, as well as more readily approached affairs like Wellington’s campaigns or the Treaty of Versailles. One of my earliest enthusiasms was for John Jones’s History of Harewood, published in 1859 with, of course, an entry for East Keswick and incidentally several members of the village on the subscription list.