Kildwick, or Kildwick-in-Craven, is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the county of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is situated between

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

and

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

and had a population of 191 in 2001, rising slightly to 194 at the 2011 census. Kildwick is a landmark as where the major road from Keighley to Skipton crosses the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. Part of the river below Leeds is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malha ...

. The village's amenities include a primary school, church and public house. Until 1974 it was part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Craven, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

History

Etymology

The first known documentation of Kildwick's name is as ''Childeuuic'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. In

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, the digraph ch is pronounced /kʰ/ not /tʃ/ so its pronunciation was the same as it is now. The meaning of its name depends on whether it was named by the conquering

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

or earlier in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

. However, no evidence of the latter is known, and other place names nearby are predominantly

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

*Kild. In Old Danish ''kilde'' means either a spring like in Keld to the north, or a large smooth body of water. ''Kelda'' has its roots in ''ketil'', cauldron, from the

Proto-Germanic language Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

''kiltham'', a vessel for nourishment. It is often proposed that Kild mean child since it comes from that same root. ''kilþei'' means womb in Gothic and thence Old English ''cild'', child or kin, but the town name is not Old English but Norse and so Kild describes the floodplain of the

when flooded. *Wick means a community settlement from the etymological root of

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

''weik'' meaning clan, cf.

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

''vit'' settlement;

Old Iranian The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian language ...

''vis'' clan, house, village. In

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

etymology, ''wīc'' or ''vik'' developed several meanings: Kildwick could mean a ''

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers pub ...

'' like

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

or a ''trading place'' like

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, but ''dairy farm'' does not apply for that meaning was used only in the

south of England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...

. Hence in Kildwick's case its name means river port.

Property

The

of 1086 has the first record of Kildwick in writing. It lists the Lord of the Childeuuic manor as Arnkeld with about 240 acres (100 hectares) of ploughland and an

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

church. However,

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

shortly deposed all the Angle- Dane lords and rewarded his great Norman warriors. Ruling over-all in Craven was

Robert de Romille Robert de Romille (also de Rumilly) was an adventurer from Brittany who joined the Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Nor ...

. In 1120 Robert's heir Cecilia de Romille, Lady of Skipton, founded an Augustine priory at Embsay near Skipton and endowed it with the manor/ estate of Kildwick.John Murray (1904) Handbook for Yorkshire
Retrieved 10 January 2012 In 1153 the proprietors of Kildwick moved their priory to

Bolton Abbey Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from a 12th-century Augustinian monastery of canons regular, now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, which was closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasterie ...

. From 1305 to 1313, Bolton Priory paid for the bridge over the River Aire to be built in stone. They also built Kildwick Grange as a local residence. In 1539, Henry VIII dissolved the monastery at

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

and granted Kildwick manor to Robert Wilkinson and Thomas Drake of Halifax but granted the church to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. In 1549, Thomas Drake alienated the Manor to John Garforth of Farnhill. In 1558, the Garforths sold it all to the Currer family with whose lineal descendants it remains.Genuki, The Ancient Parish of Kildwick
Retrieved 10 January 2012

Population

* 1379

Poll Tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

recorded Kildwick

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

as having only 10 households, all paying the minimum tax.Harry Speight (892
The Craven and North-west Yorkshire highlands
Retrieved 10 January 2012 * 1672

Hearth Tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is con ...

counted 25 households in the township with mostly but one fireplace, but also the 14-hearthed

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

. * 1821 parish registered 8,605 inhabitants. * 1831 parish was 9,926 however township only 190.Pigot's Directory 1834
Retrieved 15 January 2012 * 1881 the parish had been divided so district down to 8,923. * 1891 district up to 9,859 but township down to 145.

St Andrew's Church

St Andrew's is a historically significant church. Fragments of 10th-century crosses have been excavated from its walls, evidence of the

church built here before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. It was replaced by one of stone in the 12th century. Cecilia de Romille gave the church to

Bolton Priory Bolton Priory, whose full title is The Priory Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, Bolton Abbey, is a Grade I listed building, listed parish church of the Church of England in the village of Bolton Abbey (village), Bolton Abbey, within the Yorkshi ...

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated at source in North Yorkshire and then flows into West Yorkshire and forms the upper valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale (downstream, from west to east) includ ...

, the Manor of Kildwick coming under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Bolton. After the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 Scots raiders sacked Bingley and Bradford Churches, but spared Keighley and Kildwick Churches because they were dedicated to St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. However, in 1318 the church building was badly damaged by Scottish raiders. In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the monastery and granted the church to Christ Church, Oxford. In the reign of Henry VIII under the patronage of Christ Church the church was almost entirely rebuilt. During the 15th and 16th centuries the church was lengthened, with further extensions eastwards so that it is now one of the longest in Yorkshire hence known locally as 'The Lang Kirk of Craven'. The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

in 1873 by the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin. Changes have taken place since then, including extension of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and a further restoration of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

in 1901–03 by the successors in the Lancaster practice, Austin and Paley.

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ), was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë family, Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novel ...

and other members of the

Brontë family The Brontës () were a 19th century literary family, born in the village of Thornton, West Yorkshire, Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte Brontë, Charlott ...

were acquainted with the church.

Kildwick Parish

Ancient Kildwick Parish was unusually large for it included the townships of Kildwick, Bradley Both, Cononley,

Cowling A cowling (or cowl) is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings ...

, Holden, Eastburn, Farnhill, Glusburn, Ikornshaw, Silsden, Steeton,

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

and Stirton and Thorlby. In the mid 19th century the advent of textile factories caused rapid growth of some of the townships. It became anomalous for residents of those expanding towns to have to travel to a tiny village to be baptised, married and buried. In consequence the parish was divided, for example the other side of the River Aire

Sutton-in-Craven Sutton-in-Craven is a village, Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward and (as just Sutton) a civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England that is situated in the River Aire, Aire Valley between Skipton an ...

was constituted as a separate ecclesiastical district in 1869 and built its own parish church. However adjacent Cross Hills is still in the parish of Kildwick.

Education

Education in Kildwick has a substantial history. In 1563 and 1564 the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

's Visitation Act books records a schoolmaster at Kildwick. And the national

Hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is con ...

of 1672 records “George Ellmott for the Freeschoole, 2 hearths” untaxed in Kildwick. In 2012 the School is adjacent to the parish church on Priest Bank Road and is known as ''Kildwick

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Voluntary Controlled

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

''. It caters for girls and boys age range 4 to 11; maximum number of pupils per grade 17.

Transport

Road

Kildwick is a landmark in Craven being the point at which the main road from Keighley to Skipton crosses the River Aire. Kildwick is made a natural crossing place by the spur of land from Crosshills that dramatically narrows a wide valley prone to flooding. This spur is a first river terrace deposit of silt and sand with gravel lenses. It has been enlarged downstream by about 60 acres (25ha) of made ground.British Geological Survey, England and Wales Sheet 69: Bradford, solid and drift edition 1:50000 series, published 2000 File:Kildwick Bridge 14th century side.jpg, Kildwick Bridge west side built 1305–13 with ribbed vaulting File:Kildwick Bridge over River Aire - geograph.org.uk - 65005.jpg, Kildwick Bridge east side built 1780 File:Kildwick Bridge January 2008. - geograph.org.uk - 666890.jpg, Below the bridge after days of heavy rain File:Overflowing Aire - geograph.org.uk - 291786.jpg, The River Aire flooding above the bridge From 1305 to 1313

paid for " Aire-brigg" to be built in stone however wooden bridges had existed there many centuries before that. The bridge at Kildwick is the first stone bridge recorded in Craven and the oldest bridge in Airedale and has been designated a Grade I building. The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike Trust operated from 1752 to 1878. It was promoted mostly by textile manufacturers of Settle on the grounds that transportation costs to be greatly reduced since waggons on good roads need half the number of horses required for carrying packs. It was built to a standard width of 7 yards of which 5 were metalled. In 1780 the bridge was widened for the Turnpike and is structurally two bridges standing side‐by‐side. The upstream side with ribbed vaulting and two pointed arches is the 14th-century original. The downstream side has only plain round arches. In 1823 the

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

Addingham Addingham (formerly Haddincham , Odingehem 1086)Mills, A. D. (2003). ', Encyclopedia.com is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford West Yorkshire, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A65 road, A65, south-east ...

road opened. Six stagecoaches a day passed through the area. However the Keighley Kendal Road proved a commercial failure and ceased in debt in 1878. The roads passed into the care of the County Council. By 1968 the road traffic volume found such a bottleneck at the bridge and village it necessitated the building of the A629 and bridge to bypass it; completed in 1988.

Canal

Kildwick village is so close to the canal that they touch. In 1773 the

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is sited on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The town had a population of 18,040 at the United Kingdom ...

section was the first section of the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

to be completed. By 1781 the canal joined

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Gargrave Gargrave is a large village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the A65 road, A65, north-west of Skipton. The village is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales; the River Aire and the Leeds ...

, and in 1816 completed the link to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. It was of benefit for transport of supplies and goods from the textile mills that stood on the other side of the river. File:Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Kildwick.jpg, The Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Kildwick File:Entering Kildwick - geograph.org.uk - 842316.jpg, Houses by the canal File:Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Kildwick. - geograph.org.uk - 201380.jpg, Road going beneath the canal Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Kildwick - geograph.org.uk - 1315793.jpg, Canal footbridge to Farnhill

Rail

In 1847 the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway opened its Shipley to

section through Kildwick and Crosshills railway station. Kildwick was thus served by rail until the station was closed in 1965. Steeton is the nearest railway station.

Main sights

File:The White Lion - geograph.org.uk - 847880.jpg, The war memorial and the White Lion pub File:Kildwick Hall - geograph.org.uk - 236379.jpg, Kildwick Hall Footpath fingerpost, Jackson's Lane - geograph.org.uk - 473351.jpg, The start of the Kildwick Moor footpaths

Notable people

Stephen Barrett Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, and consumer advocate best known for his work combatting health fraud and promoting evidence-based medicine. He founded Quackwatch, a network of websites that cri ...

(1718–1801), teacher of classics, was born at Bent, in the parish of Kildwick. * Katie Griffiths (born 1989), actress, grew up in Kildwick. * Henry Mosley (1852–1933), first-class cricketer, was born in Kildwick. * Clare Teal (1973–), English jazz singer, was born in Kildwick. * John Webster (alias Johannes Hyphastes) (1610–1682), clergyman and physician, became curate at Kildwick in 1634.

References

External links

The Ancient Parish of Kildwick: Historical extracts and Links collected by Genuki

Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Craven District