Addingham
Encyclopedia
Addingham is a village and civil parish
in the English county of West Yorkshire
. It is situated on the A65
, 3 miles (5 km) west of Ilkley
, 15 miles (24.1 km) north west of Bradford
and around 17 miles (27 km) north west of Leeds
. It is located in the valley of the River Wharfe
and is only 3 miles (5 km) from the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The name is thought to mean "homestead associated with a man called Adda", although in the Domesday Book
, the village was referred to as "Ediham", which may have referred to Earl Edwin of Bolton Abbey
. The 2001 census numbered Addingham's population at 3,599.
The area around Addingham is thought to have been populated from at least Bronze Age
times, indicated by the 'cup and ring
' carved stones that can be found on Addingham Moor. It's beginnings may date back to the late Mesolithic
period, as evidenced by the scattered remains of early flint tools across Rombald's Moor to the south.
The earliest of the existing houses were built in the 17th century when the village was a farming community, but the real growth began in the late 18th century and early 19th century when the textile industry arrived and five working mill
s, plus other loomshops and weaving sheds, were established, and the village developed into a busy industrial community. The village grew up around three centres; Church Street in the east; The Green, about a mile away in the west; and The Old School in between. This is thought to be one of the reasons the village used to be known as "Long Addingham".
Since the decline of the textile industry during the 20th century, the village has now become largely a commuter and retirement community. It is home to an award-winning Medical Centre, a public park, five public houses, several retirement homes and a solitary school, Addingham Primary School.
and early Bronze Ages, as indicated by the remains of early man in the form of flint tools on Rombald's Moor, which may date back to around 11,000 B.C.. The first 'fixed' artefacts are the 'cup and ring' marked stones, several of which can be found on top of Addingham Moor and Ilkley Moor
to the east, which date back to the early Bronze Age, around 1800 BC.
The first evidence of settlements come from the Iron Age
- evidence of major tree clearance dating back to 700 BC has been found, as well as quern-stones
on Addingham Moorside. Remains of an Iron Age settlement can also be found on Addingham Low Moor.
Little evidence remains of the 350 years of Roman occupation, save for the Roman road towards Skipton (now Moor Lane) which, up until the 1800s, was still the primary route between the two settlements.
and Anley, and may have given his name to the village.
The weir of a medieval corn mill that is located near modern-day High Mill has been dated back to 1315, and is one of the oldest medieval structures in the village. Despite this, the main occupation in the 1370s, when poll tax was levied, was agriculture, iron smelting and blacksmithing.
, Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in Bolton Abbey, and while most of Addingham accepted the Reformation, Richard Kirkham remained faithful to Catholicism
and was subsequently arrested in 1578, tried, and executed in York
alongside William Lacy
. The Roman Catholic church "Our Lady and of the English Martyrs", which was built in 1927, is dedicated to him and to other Catholics persecuted by Henry VIII.
During the English Civil War
in 1642, Addingham was probably mainly Royalist
, as several villagers help to defend Skipton Castle from the Parliamentarians
.
The earliest indications of the textile industry
in the village can be found in the will of William Atkinson in 1568, in which it states that he left a solitary loom
to his son-in-law. The cloth making industry remained stagnant, however, until the 18th century, when revolutionary weaving
inventions such as John Kay
's Flying shuttle
and, later, water-powered machines such as Crompton's
Spinning mule
, allowed the textile industry in Addingham to leap forward as it entered the 19th century.
John Cunliffe, a cloth manufacturer, and John Cockshott, a glazier and woolstapler, took advantage of the new developments in technology and leased land on the side of the River Wharfe in 1787 at the site now known as Low Mill. They built a spinning mill which enabled yarn to be spun more quickly than by hand and thus increased the production of cloth. A weir was constructed on the river and a wheel installed to provide the power. It was the first successful worsted mill in the world.
, cotton
, worsted
and finally silk
spinning, while other new mills were built, such as Town Head Mill and Fentimans, the latter of which was built in 1802 originally to spin cotton and was later converted into a sawmill
in the 1860s. Several small workshops were also built, as well as three stories high workers' houses, in which the lower two floors would be for domestic use, and the top floor would house the looms, with inter-connecting doors along the row of houses. These buildings still exist today, and examples can be seen on Stockinger Lane.
In 1826, Low Mill, now under the tenancy of Jeremiah Horsfall, was the scene of a Luddite
uprising.
Between 1831 and 1861, census records reported a dramatic decline in the population of the village, and the 1841 census stated that this was owing to the closure of Low Mill. In the 1851, so many of the houses at Low Mill were empty that it is assumed that the mill remained closed until then. By 1861, hand loom weavers had practically disappeared. However, shortly afterwards, Samuel Cunliffe Lister
re-opened Low Mill, with commercial operations being handled at Piece Hall at 19 Main Street.
In 1875, the Lord of the Manor, Richard Smith of London, proposed the construction of 20 streets, each with 40 to 50 houses. Small shops lined the Main Street, such as grocers, greengrocers and butchers. An Addingham co-operative society was formed; it prospered sufficiently to buy land on Bolton Road and build new premises and a row of cottages. The old ferry which brought parishioners from Beamsley was replaced by a foot bridge, and around about the same time a horse-drawn bus service to Ilkley was introduced. Addingham became part of the Skipton Rural District of West Riding, and the Parish Council was formed in 1894.
By the end of the 19th century, there were five operating mills in the village, three of them owned by Lister, and the village was thriving again.
, and thereafter the industry never really recovered. After the bombing of the SU Carburetter
factory in Coventry
during World War II
in 1941, production switched to Addingham, at which time up to 1000 people worked there and prefabricated homes
were erected in Ilkley to cater for the sudden increase in employees. The other textiles factories were busy during the war, and the Listers, having produced silk between wars with a German company, were able to use their expertise to produce silk parachutes.
After the war, Carburetter production ceased and Low Mill returned to textiles. For a short time the mills were working hard, as textiles were in short supply. However, the machinery was out of date there was a major closure of textile mills throughout the country. In Addingham, the last mill to close was at Low Mill in 1976.
In the meantime, the demand for small, cheap housing increased, and this saw new council houses being built at Moor Lane after the First World War, and at School Lane, Burns Hill and Green Lane after the Second World War. After the closure of the railway line in 1969, a modern housing estate was built where the line used to run, and has since been expanded.
In 1998, textiles briefly returned to Addingham and Low Mill in the form of a Norwegian based company, Straum (UK), who started production of scoured wool, but this business closed in 2002.
Today, the village is mainly a retirement and commuter community, with several people commuting every day to nearby towns such as Skipton and Ilkley and also to larger cities like Leeds and Bradford.
, but this closed in 1965. There are plans to extend the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
back to the village and also build a new LMS Style station on the old surviving embankment and on a soon to be rebuilt bridge abutment, a few metres from the old original station site which has now long been redeveloped as housing. Addingham has a half-hourly bus service to Ilkley
and Keighley
, hourly to Leeds
and Skipton
, and infrequently between Ilkley and Grassington
in the Yorkshire Dales
. Night-time and Sunday buses are restricted to an hourly service between Ilkley and Keighley.
The nearest railway station is in Ilkley, with regular services to Leeds and Bradford
.
school (the 'Low School' in North Street in 1845).
In 1874, on Chapel Street, the Wesleyan
s built a day school which in turn became the National School
in 1891. This remained as the infant and junior school until the building of the First School and Middle school
s in the 1960s.
The First School, closed when the two-tier education system was introduced in 2000, was demolished in 2001. The Middle School then became Addingham Primary School which has around 240 students.
. A decision was made before the start of the 2010-11 season to transfer to the Craven and District League
due to the closer proximity of most of the teams. In their inaugural season in the league, they finished 10th in Division 4.
Addingham Cricket Club plays in the Aire-Wharfe Senior Cricket League.
The extreme sports scene in Addingham is also thriving with an array of mountain bikers and skateboarders making good use of the facilities and surrounding hills.
, Heaton
, Wilsden
and Wrose
, would be closed. However, parish councillors urged Bradford Council to delay the closure until a takeover could be organised. In November 2011, the library became the first in the area to be fully staffed by community volunteers, and the library is now open for over twice the number of hours it was whilst run by Bradford Council.
s and a social club (Addingham Village Social Club) that are situated the length of Main Street. They are: The Fleece, The Crown, The Swan, The Sailor, and The Craven Heifer. All the pubs in some form offer quizzes and live music. The most common pub crawl is called the 'Dingham Dash' starting at either end of the village working up/down and then back. For drinkers not accustomed to a large pub crawl the 'Triangle' (Crown-Social Club-Fleece) is a good start. In September 2011, both the Craven Heifer and the Fleece closed. Since then, The Craven Heifer has opened as a new Chinese Restaurant, run by the owners of Po Sang in Ilkley, while local businessman Craig Minto has taken over The Fleece, which is due to reopen on 1 December 2011.
In 1998, for the first time in living memory, the village was unable to hold a Gala, due to the previous organiser having to step down due to other commitments, and the village being unable to find a replacement. Eventually, a 15-strong team, led by former chairman of the Addingham Civic Society Don Barrett, was set up to organise the Gala, and it took place once again in 1999.
However, in 2000, Barrett claimed that village apathy was threatening the Gala once again and the organisation was in need of volunteers 'before it's too late'. Following a local appeal in the Ilkley Gazette, local Rebecca Carter volunteered her help and was elected Chairman of the new Addingham Gala Committee and the gala went ahead.
In 2001, the Gala was cancelled due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak, but the Gala Committee instead organised a 'Keep It Local' day, which was intended to give the locals the opportunity to support their local business and create a sense of community spirit. The day involved a treasure hunt
, morris dancing, and an award for the person who spent the most money in the village throughout the day.
In 2007, after seven successful years at the helm, during which the popularity of Addingham Gala significantly grew, Rebecca Carter stepped down as Chairman and was replaced by Angela Hutton, who had been a part of the volunteering team for three years previously.
Since 2009, the pantomime has entered the Wharfedale Festival of Theatre. In their debut year in the competition, they won seven awards, including the Pantomime Cup for Best Pantomime.
building and 22 new houses and 6 apartments. 17 of the units will be reserved for local buyers at affordable prices. The conversion will increase the height of the mill as well as the removal of surrounding buildings to be landscaped.
site, leading to renewed efforts on a 32-bedroom "budget" motel. In 2005, revised plans for an 'American-style' 30-bedroom motel with less car parking space and a residents only bar were approved, with the Parish Council objecting on the grounds that the new design would be out of character for the village. In 2007, after no visible work had been done, the Parish Council were awarded a £4,000 grant and were able to clean it up and erect a new fence. By 2008, it had once again become overgrown, leading to Parish Councillors urging the Bradford Council to release the site from the Green Belt. In 2010, another bid was made to renew planning permission for a 30-bedroom motel, with three written objections being made to Bradford Council. Since then, no development has commenced on this plot of land and the issue is still to be resolved.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the English county of 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....
. It is situated on the A65
A65 road
The A65 is a major road in England. It runs north west from Leeds in Yorkshire via Kirkstall, Horsforth, Yeadon, Guiseley, Ilkley and Skipton, passes west of Settle, then continues through Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale before terminating at Kendal in Cumbria....
, 3 miles (5 km) west 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...
, 15 miles (24.1 km) north west 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 around 17 miles (27 km) north west of 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...
. It is located in the valley of the River Wharfe
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe is a river in Yorkshire, England. For much of its length it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. The name Wharfe is Celtic and means "twisting, winding".The valley of the River Wharfe is known as Wharfedale...
and is only 3 miles (5 km) from the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The name is thought to mean "homestead associated with a man called Adda", although in the Domesday Book
Domesday 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...
, the village was referred to as "Ediham", which may have referred to Earl Edwin of Bolton Abbey
Bolton Abbey
Bolton Abbey is the estate within which is located the ruined 12th-century Augustinian Bolton Priory in North Yorkshire, England. It gives its name to the parish of Bolton Abbey.-Bolton Priory:...
. The 2001 census numbered Addingham's population at 3,599.
The area around Addingham is thought to have been populated from at least 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...
times, indicated by the 'cup and ring
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...
' carved stones that can be found on Addingham Moor. It's beginnings may date back to the late Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
period, as evidenced by the scattered remains of early flint tools across Rombald's Moor to the south.
The earliest of the existing houses were built in the 17th century when the village was a farming community, but the real growth began in the late 18th century and early 19th century when the textile industry arrived and five working mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
s, plus other loomshops and weaving sheds, were established, and the village developed into a busy industrial community. The village grew up around three centres; Church Street in the east; The Green, about a mile away in the west; and The Old School in between. This is thought to be one of the reasons the village used to be known as "Long Addingham".
Since the decline of the textile industry during the 20th century, the village has now become largely a commuter and retirement community. It is home to an award-winning Medical Centre, a public park, five public houses, several retirement homes and a solitary school, Addingham Primary School.
Early History
There are evidences of civilisation around Addingham as far back as the late Mesolithic, NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and early Bronze Ages, as indicated by the remains of early man in the form of flint tools on Rombald's Moor, which may date back to around 11,000 B.C.. The first 'fixed' artefacts are the 'cup and ring' marked stones, several of which can be found on top of Addingham Moor and 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...
to the east, which date back to the early Bronze Age, around 1800 BC.
The first evidence of settlements come from the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
- evidence of major tree clearance dating back to 700 BC has been found, as well as quern-stones
Quern-stone
Quern-stones are stone tools for hand grinding a wide variety of materials. They were used in pairs. The lower, stationary, stone is called a quern, whilst the upper, mobile, stone is called a handstone...
on Addingham Moorside. Remains of an Iron Age settlement can also be found on Addingham Low Moor.
Little evidence remains of the 350 years of Roman occupation, save for the Roman road towards Skipton (now Moor Lane) which, up until the 1800s, was still the primary route between the two settlements.
Middle Ages
The Domesday Book in 1086 places the village in the region of Burghshire and refers to the village as "Ediham". The Lord in 1066 was Earl Edwin of Bolton Abbey (Bodeltone), who was Lord of several other surrounding settlements ranging as far west as Skipton, HellifieldHellifield
Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England . The village once was an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between the Midland Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, but Hellifield railway station is now a shadow of...
and Anley, and may have given his name to the village.
The weir of a medieval corn mill that is located near modern-day High Mill has been dated back to 1315, and is one of the oldest medieval structures in the village. Despite this, the main occupation in the 1370s, when poll tax was levied, was agriculture, iron smelting and blacksmithing.
Early Modern Period: Reformation and Early Textile Mills
During the ReformationEnglish Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in Bolton Abbey, and while most of Addingham accepted the Reformation, Richard Kirkham remained faithful to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and was subsequently arrested in 1578, tried, and executed in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
alongside William Lacy
William Lacy
-Biography:William was born at "Hanton", Yorkshire ; suffered at York, 22 August 1582. He married a widow, named Cresswell, whose sons, Arthur and Joseph, became Jesuits. Little is related of his family by his biographers. He had a brother Ralph of Preston in Amounderness, a sister Barbara, and...
. The Roman Catholic church "Our Lady and of the English Martyrs", which was built in 1927, is dedicated to him and to other Catholics persecuted by Henry VIII.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1642, Addingham was probably mainly Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
, as several villagers help to defend Skipton Castle from the Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
.
The earliest indications of the textile industry
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
in the village can be found in the will of William Atkinson in 1568, in which it states that he left a solitary loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
to his son-in-law. The cloth making industry remained stagnant, however, until the 18th century, when revolutionary weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
inventions such as John Kay
John Kay
John Kay may refer to:*John Kay , English inventor of textile machinery, notably the flying shuttle*John Kay , English developer of textile machinery, notably the spinning frame *John Kay , Scottish caricaturist*Sir John Kay...
's Flying shuttle
Flying shuttle
The flying shuttle was one of the key developments in weaving that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution. It was patented by John Kay in 1733. Only one weaver was needed to control its lever-driven motion. Before the shuttle, a single weaver could not weave a fabric wider than arms length. Beyond...
and, later, water-powered machines such as Crompton's
Samuel Crompton
Samuel Crompton was an English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry.- Early life :Samuel Crompton was born at 10 Firwood Fold, Bolton, Lancashire to George and Betty Crompton . Samuel had two younger sisters...
Spinning mule
Spinning mule
The spinning mule was a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of two boys: the little piecer and the big or side piecer...
, allowed the textile industry in Addingham to leap forward as it entered the 19th century.
John Cunliffe, a cloth manufacturer, and John Cockshott, a glazier and woolstapler, took advantage of the new developments in technology and leased land on the side of the River Wharfe in 1787 at the site now known as Low Mill. They built a spinning mill which enabled yarn to be spun more quickly than by hand and thus increased the production of cloth. A weir was constructed on the river and a wheel installed to provide the power. It was the first successful worsted mill in the world.
19th Century: Thriving Textile Industry
The start of the 19th century saw the textile industry begin to thrive in the village - existing mills, such as the one at High Mill which had been built in 1787 to produce corn, were converted and extended and used for linenLinen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
, 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....
, worsted
Worsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
and finally silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
spinning, while other new mills were built, such as Town Head Mill and Fentimans, the latter of which was built in 1802 originally to spin cotton and was later converted into a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
in the 1860s. Several small workshops were also built, as well as three stories high workers' houses, in which the lower two floors would be for domestic use, and the top floor would house the looms, with inter-connecting doors along the row of houses. These buildings still exist today, and examples can be seen on Stockinger Lane.
In 1826, Low Mill, now under the tenancy of Jeremiah Horsfall, was the scene of a Luddite
Luddite
The Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life...
uprising.
Between 1831 and 1861, census records reported a dramatic decline in the population of the village, and the 1841 census stated that this was owing to the closure of Low Mill. In the 1851, so many of the houses at Low Mill were empty that it is assumed that the mill remained closed until then. By 1861, hand loom weavers had practically disappeared. However, shortly afterwards, Samuel Cunliffe Lister
Samuel Lister, 1st Baron Masham
Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Baron Masham, was an English inventor and industrialist, notable for inventing the Lister nip comb.-Early life:...
re-opened Low Mill, with commercial operations being handled at Piece Hall at 19 Main Street.
In 1875, the Lord of the Manor, Richard Smith of London, proposed the construction of 20 streets, each with 40 to 50 houses. Small shops lined the Main Street, such as grocers, greengrocers and butchers. An Addingham co-operative society was formed; it prospered sufficiently to buy land on Bolton Road and build new premises and a row of cottages. The old ferry which brought parishioners from Beamsley was replaced by a foot bridge, and around about the same time a horse-drawn bus service to Ilkley was introduced. Addingham became part of the Skipton Rural District of West Riding, and the Parish Council was formed in 1894.
By the end of the 19th century, there were five operating mills in the village, three of them owned by Lister, and the village was thriving again.
20th Century: World War II and Industrial Decline
The village continued to produce textiles until the start of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and thereafter the industry never really recovered. After the bombing of the SU Carburetter
SU Carburetter
SU Carburetters were a brand of carburetter usually of the sidedraught type but downdraught variants were used on some pre-war cars....
factory in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
during World War II
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...
in 1941, production switched to Addingham, at which time up to 1000 people worked there and prefabricated homes
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....
were erected in Ilkley to cater for the sudden increase in employees. The other textiles factories were busy during the war, and the Listers, having produced silk between wars with a German company, were able to use their expertise to produce silk parachutes.
After the war, Carburetter production ceased and Low Mill returned to textiles. For a short time the mills were working hard, as textiles were in short supply. However, the machinery was out of date there was a major closure of textile mills throughout the country. In Addingham, the last mill to close was at Low Mill in 1976.
In the meantime, the demand for small, cheap housing increased, and this saw new council houses being built at Moor Lane after the First World War, and at School Lane, Burns Hill and Green Lane after the Second World War. After the closure of the railway line in 1969, a modern housing estate was built where the line used to run, and has since been expanded.
In 1998, textiles briefly returned to Addingham and Low Mill in the form of a Norwegian based company, Straum (UK), who started production of scoured wool, but this business closed in 2002.
Today, the village is mainly a retirement and commuter community, with several people commuting every day to nearby towns such as Skipton and Ilkley and also to larger cities like Leeds and Bradford.
Governance
Addingham has its own Parish Council, and is within the area of the Bradford Metropolitan District Council together with Ilkley Parish Council.Transport
Addingham once had its own railway stationAddingham railway station
Addingham railway station was on the Midland Railway route from Skipton to Ilkley. It served the village of Addingham in West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
, but this closed in 1965. There are plans to extend the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, . It is part of the former Midland Railway branch from Skipton to Ilkley . The E&BASR currently runs from Embsay via Draughton and Holywell to Bolton Abbey station, a distance of...
back to the village and also build a new LMS Style station on the old surviving embankment and on a soon to be rebuilt bridge abutment, a few metres from the old original station site which has now long been redeveloped as housing. Addingham has a half-hourly bus service to 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...
and Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
, hourly 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...
and 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...
, and infrequently between Ilkley and Grassington
Grassington
Grassington is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England.The town is situated in Wharfedale around from Bolton Abbey and is surrounded by limestone scenery...
in the Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...
. Night-time and Sunday buses are restricted to an hourly service between Ilkley and Keighley.
The nearest railway station is in Ilkley, with regular services to Leeds and 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...
.
Education
The Old School was built in 1669 by Anthony Ward. The school started as a single-storey two-roomed cottage but another storey was added in 1805 when the school moved into the upper room. The school remained as it was until 1845 when it was replaced by the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
school (the 'Low School' in North Street in 1845).
In 1874, on Chapel Street, the Wesleyan
Wesleyanism
Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
s built a day school which in turn became the National School
National school (England and Wales)
A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...
in 1891. This remained as the infant and junior school until the building of the First School and Middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
s in the 1960s.
The First School, closed when the two-tier education system was introduced in 2000, was demolished in 2001. The Middle School then became Addingham Primary School which has around 240 students.
Sport
Addingham has many sports teams including a football team previously part of the Harrogate and District LeagueHarrogate and District League
The Harrogate and District League is a football competition based in Yorkshire, England. It has a total of four divisions, the highest of which, the Premier Division, sits at level 14 of the English football league system...
. A decision was made before the start of the 2010-11 season to transfer to the Craven and District League
Craven and District League
The Craven and District League is a football competition based in England. The league was founded in 1905 and presently has a total of five divisions, the highest of which, the Craven and District League Premier Division, sits at level 14 of the English football league system and is a feeder to...
due to the closer proximity of most of the teams. In their inaugural season in the league, they finished 10th in Division 4.
Addingham Cricket Club plays in the Aire-Wharfe Senior Cricket League.
The extreme sports scene in Addingham is also thriving with an array of mountain bikers and skateboarders making good use of the facilities and surrounding hills.
Medical Centre
The new Medical Centre in the village was officially opened on 14 August 2009, having been the culmination of many years of battling for a purpose-built surgery to serve local patients. It has replaced the previous centre situated further along the main road. In March 2011, the new centre was awarded a Royal College of General Practitioners' Quality Practice Award (QPA) for the highest standard of patient care.Library
Addingham has a public library on Main Street, which used to be the site of the local school. In February 2011, Bradford Council outlined a money-saving scheme in which five of the areas most under-used libraries, in Addingham, DenholmeDenholme
Denholme is a small town and civil parish in the Bradford Metropolitan Borough, West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Bradford, from Keighley and roughly the same distance from Halifax. Administratively, it is part of the Bingley Rural ward of the City of Bradford...
, Heaton
Heaton, West Yorkshire
Heaton is a Ward of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Frizinghall, Heaton and Daisy Hill, extending to Chellow Heights reservoir on the western edge and the Bradford-Shipley railway line on the eastern edge...
, Wilsden
Wilsden
Wilsden is a village and civil parish to the west of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. Wilsden is close to the Aire Valley and the nearby villages of Cullingworth, Harden, Cottingley and Allerton. Wilsden re-acquired civil parish status in 2004...
and Wrose
Wrose
Wrose is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, about three miles north of Bradford city centre, and south-east of Shipley. It sits on top of a hillside at a height of around 600 feet above sea level, overlooking the Aire valley and...
, would be closed. However, parish councillors urged Bradford Council to delay the closure until a takeover could be organised. In November 2011, the library became the first in the area to be fully staffed by community volunteers, and the library is now open for over twice the number of hours it was whilst run by Bradford Council.
Public houses
Addingham has five public housePublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and a social club (Addingham Village Social Club) that are situated the length of Main Street. They are: The Fleece, The Crown, The Swan, The Sailor, and The Craven Heifer. All the pubs in some form offer quizzes and live music. The most common pub crawl is called the 'Dingham Dash' starting at either end of the village working up/down and then back. For drinkers not accustomed to a large pub crawl the 'Triangle' (Crown-Social Club-Fleece) is a good start. In September 2011, both the Craven Heifer and the Fleece closed. Since then, The Craven Heifer has opened as a new Chinese Restaurant, run by the owners of Po Sang in Ilkley, while local businessman Craig Minto has taken over The Fleece, which is due to reopen on 1 December 2011.
Addingham Gala
Since at least 1960, Addingham has held a village gala in July. It includes a parade, which begins at Green Lane proceeds down Main Street, culminating at the village park, and several attractions including rides and stalls. Each year, there is a different theme for the Gala. In 2010, a traditional fell race organised by Ilkley Harriers, which had not taken place for over 20 years, was reinstated to the agenda.In 1998, for the first time in living memory, the village was unable to hold a Gala, due to the previous organiser having to step down due to other commitments, and the village being unable to find a replacement. Eventually, a 15-strong team, led by former chairman of the Addingham Civic Society Don Barrett, was set up to organise the Gala, and it took place once again in 1999.
However, in 2000, Barrett claimed that village apathy was threatening the Gala once again and the organisation was in need of volunteers 'before it's too late'. Following a local appeal in the Ilkley Gazette, local Rebecca Carter volunteered her help and was elected Chairman of the new Addingham Gala Committee and the gala went ahead.
In 2001, the Gala was cancelled due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak, but the Gala Committee instead organised a 'Keep It Local' day, which was intended to give the locals the opportunity to support their local business and create a sense of community spirit. The day involved a treasure hunt
Treasure hunt (game)
A treasure hunt is one of many different types of games which can have one or more players who try to find hidden articles, locations or places by using a series of clues. This is a fictional activity; treasure hunting can also be a real life activity. Treasure hunt games may be an indoor or...
, morris dancing, and an award for the person who spent the most money in the village throughout the day.
In 2007, after seven successful years at the helm, during which the popularity of Addingham Gala significantly grew, Rebecca Carter stepped down as Chairman and was replaced by Angela Hutton, who had been a part of the volunteering team for three years previously.
Addingham Pantomime
Performances of a local pantomime began in 1933 with a performance of Bluebeard. For several years, the pantomime was funded, organised and run by Friends of Addingham Primary School (FAPS), but in 2003, the organisation felt unable to commit the time to organise the project and decided to discontinue its support of the project. This led to the formation of the Addingham Pantomime Group, which has staged the pantomime every February ever since.Since 2009, the pantomime has entered the Wharfedale Festival of Theatre. In their debut year in the competition, they won seven awards, including the Pantomime Cup for Best Pantomime.
Low Mill
Work is under way to convert Low Mill into a residential complex. The development will consist of 32 units in the millCotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
building and 22 new houses and 6 apartments. 17 of the units will be reserved for local buyers at affordable prices. The conversion will increase the height of the mill as well as the removal of surrounding buildings to be landscaped.
The Addingham Motel
Planning permission for a motel to be built on an overgrown plot of land near the cricket ground on Main Street was first granted in 1991 and renewed in 1996. In 2001, an application to redevelop the land into nine houses was rejected due to the site being part of a Green BeltGreen belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
site, leading to renewed efforts on a 32-bedroom "budget" motel. In 2005, revised plans for an 'American-style' 30-bedroom motel with less car parking space and a residents only bar were approved, with the Parish Council objecting on the grounds that the new design would be out of character for the village. In 2007, after no visible work had been done, the Parish Council were awarded a £4,000 grant and were able to clean it up and erect a new fence. By 2008, it had once again become overgrown, leading to Parish Councillors urging the Bradford Council to release the site from the Green Belt. In 2010, another bid was made to renew planning permission for a 30-bedroom motel, with three written objections being made to Bradford Council. Since then, no development has commenced on this plot of land and the issue is still to be resolved.