Earby Official Guide. 1938 (MIXMAN)

[Stanley]

Earby Official Guide. 1938
Topic: http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/link ... IC_ID=4547
Date: 23 March 2006
Topic author: Mixman
Subject: Earby Official Guide.
Posted on: 22 March 2006 13:33:30
Message:
EARBY :: YORKS.
Postal Address : Earby, via Colne, Lancs. Manufacturing Facilities and Residential Advantages.
Official Guide.
INDEX.
Page
Situation ... ... ... ... ... 3
Attractions of the District 3
Industries ... ... ... ... ... 4
Transport Facilities ... ... ... ... 4
Local Government ... ... ... ... 4
Recreation Grounds ... ... ... ... 6
Water, Electricity and Gas ... .:. ... 6
Education ... ... ... ... ... 9
Local Organisations ... ... ... ... 9
Sports Clubs ... ... ... . . ... II
Places of Worship ... II
History II
General Information ... ... ... ... 17
Printed and Published for Earby Urban District Council by
The Simmath Press Ltd., Simmath House, Dundee.
Copyright.



EARBY.
SITUATION.
Earby is situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, close to the Lancashire Boundary. It is in the Western extremity of Craven, a district rich in beauty and famous for its moorlands and waterways, and lies in the line of the great Craven Fault. Skipton, but seven miles away, is the gateway to Craven, and opens up a whole region of magnificent scenery including Wharfedale, the most famous of the Yorkshire Dales, and the three Pennine summits of Whernside, Peny-Ghent and Ingleborough, upon whose slopes is that famous pot-hole, " Gaping Ghyll," the deepest in the British Isles, and of great interest to the speleologist.
To the East of the town, within easy rambling distance is the land of the Brontes," and on the South, Wycollar, and the country immortalised by Halliwell Sutcliffe in " Mistress Barbara Cunliffe."
North, rather more than a mile away, is the pretty village of Thornton-in-Craven, with its 15th Century Church, and a mile further on, in the direction of Barnoldswick is Gill Church, built in the 12th Century.
A short ramble brings into view Elslack, with its Roman Camp uncovered more than a quarter of a Century ago, but this has unfortunately been covered since, to provide grazing land.
In the opposite direction, still within walking distance, lies Pendle Hill, the Lancashire Pinnacle of the Pennine Range, and beautiful Ribblesdale, an " Angler's Paradise."
The immediate neighbourhood has manifold attractions; Earby itself possesses many beauty spots, including the Glen, and several small but charming waterfalls. In the outskirts are many pleasant rambles. To the East rises Earby Moor, finding its Peak in Pinhaw, 1274 feet above sea level. This, in olden times, was a beacon hill, from the summit of which is unfolded a glorious panorama of country. Malham Cove and Gordale Scar in Malham-dale, and the three Craven Peaks are easily discernible, and on a clear day one can see the mountains of the English Lake District.
The town is within reach of many of the central industrial districts in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and stands on the main road connecting the two counties, Skipton in Yorkshire being seven miles distant, and Colne in Lancashire five miles away.
Earby is in the East Division of Staincliffe and Ewecross wapentake, East Staincliffe Petty Sessional Division, Skipton and County Court District, Rural Deanery of Skipton, Archdeaconry of Craven and Diocese of Bradford.
The staple industry is cotton weaving in which the bulk of the population is occupied. Prior to the Great War, development was rapid, and now the town is a centre of the cotton manufacturing industry, there being thirteen manufacturing firms in the area.
Outside the central area of the population, dairy and poultry farming are carried on, and towns in Lancashire provide markets for the produce.
Two 'bus services provide excellent connections with neighbouring towns, and the L.M. & S. Railway Company's main line from Lancashire to Yorkshire affords transport facilities through to Bradford, Leeds, etc., in Yorkshire, and Burnley, Manchester, etc., in Lancashire.
The district is admirably situated for development, and many valuable building sites are available.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Earby was created an Urban District in 1909. The Council have always been a progressive authority, and own trading undertakings in addition to the usual services.


An efficient sewerage system is laid down, and the disposal works are equipped with electrically driven pumps, and provided with mechanical labour saving devices, with automatic controls.
The streets are lighted, excepting at ten points, by electricity, and the others by gas.
The Council have laid out Memorial Grounds, recreation ground and children's playground. They have established a Mortuary and refuse destructor, and maintain a lethal chamber for the destruction of animals. The Council also own a slaughterhouse and allotments.
An efficient fire brigade and engine are under the control of the Council, and an electrical system of alarm has been established.
The town is well policed by the West Riding County Constabulary, and the Inspector for Barnoldswick and Earby resides in Earby.
The Water undertaking is owned by the Council, and springs upon the moors provide the supply, which is collected into reservoirs, the capacity of which is over 7,000,000 gallons. There is little fear of shortage even in time of excessive drought. The Council own 307 acres of gathering grounds.
The electricity undertaking, also, is the property of the Council who have laid over seven miles of cables, and of the 1600 properties for which a supply is available, over 900 have been connected to the mains in the last five years. The charges are among the lowest in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and compare very favourably with those in any part of the country; each year the financial situation has been so satisfactory that further reductions have been made. The charges to domestic consumers are on the principle of a two-part tariff, with current at 1/2d per unit. For shops, offices and halls, the charge is 51/2d and 5d per unit, and for industry, 4d to 3/4d according to the number of units purchased.
For the electricity supply the Council buy current in bulk from Nelson Corporation on the Grid System.


Gas is provided by a private company, which has new works of the latest type, and the quality of the gas is reported to be excellent.
EDUCATION.
There are three schools in the District, all Council Schools, and secondary education is available at the Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, and the Girls' High School, Skipton, and the Colne Grammar School, while continuation classes are available at the Earby Evening Institute. Evening classes are also available to students from Earby at the Science and Art Schools, Skipton, and the Municipal Technical School, Colne.
The West Riding County Council have a branch of the County Library in the old Grammar School, at Earby, and they have also-established a smaller branch in the Kelbrook Ward of the Urban District. There is a good selection of over 2000 books and a partial change of the stock is made four times a year. The Urban Council have also established a small reference department, which is very useful, and volumes are added constantly.
LOCAL ORGANISATIONS.
The town possesses many active organisations. A voluntary Hospital Committee, which owns a modern motor ambulance, completely equipped, provides transport for patients from the district to hospitals in Leeds, Bradford, Skipton and Burnley. The finances of the Committee are supported by weekly subscriptions of 1d and upwards from the workpeople in the town.
Under the auspices of the West Riding County Council a Child Welfare Centre has been established, which is governed by a local Committee, and excellent service is rendered.
Friendly Societies are well represented, and comprise the Thornton Lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, Pride of Craven Lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, Earby Tent of the Ancient Order of Rechabites, and a recently established Lodge of Freemasons. The Earby St. John Ambulance Brigade and Nursing Division is an enthusiastic organisation with a large amount of experience. A Local Branch of Toc H also does a great beneficial work in the district.


Other organisations in the town include an Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, which has presented many excellent productions; a Brass Band Club, with a meritorious prize band; a Manufacturers' Association; a Twisters' and Drawers' Association; a Weavers' Association and Institute; a Railwaymen's Union Branch; a Ladies' Lifeboat Guild; a Branch of the Craven Tenant Farmers' Association; a Chamber of Trade; Senior and Junior branches of the three political parties, Conservative, Labour and Liberal; and three registered Working Men's Clubs.
SPORTS.
Earby boasts an excellent cricket team, with membership of the Yorkshire Council League, and for many years has had an enviable positional record. There are also tennis, golf and bowls clubs, and an Association Football Club, which is in membership with the Craven League.
PLACES OF WORSHIP.
All Saints Church—Vicar, the Rev. J. B. Atkinson, M.A. St. Mary's Church, Kelbrook—Vicar, the Rev. W. Mather. St. Patrick's Church—Priest-in-Charge, the Rev.Fr. J. W. Horrax. Methodist Churches (in Barnoldswick Circuit) Riley Street and George Street, Earby, and Bethel, Kelbrook—Ministers, the Rev. W. Jones, M.Sc. (Barnoldswick) (Supt.) and the Rev. B. Oliver (Barnoldswick).
Mount Zion Baptist Church—Minister, the Rev. J. Tinker. 1926-1938
Salvation Army—Lieut. C. R. Attenborough. Christian Science Church—First Reader, Mrs J. W. Barker. Spiritualist Church and Lyceum. Friends' Meeting House, Salterforth (one mile from Earby).
HISTORY.
The origin of Earby is uncertain, but records show that it existed in the 10th Century, and it appeared in the Domesday Book as Eurbi.



There are traces which indicate that Earby was once a swamp, and was thickly wooded, and it was not until the coming of the Danes in the ninth century, that settlers first made their homes in the district, when they called their smallholding by the name of their stream, the Eure, or waterway, from which was derived Eurbi.
From this time the dwellers in and around Earby were chiefly farmers, or cultivated small plots on which they lived, and Whitaker, in his " History of Craven," stated that in the Middle Ages all the land was cultivated by the people under the Lord of the Manor. Each messuage has a croft annexed to it, but all the rest of the land lay in common. Even meadow lands lay in the common, and next to these was a cornfield occupied in the growth of wheat, oats, barley, flax and hemp, and at a greater distance, separated by a wall, was a common pasture for cattle, and beyond that a wide stretch of moor and fell, grazed by sheep. Corn was without doubt extensively grown in this district at one period, for several meadows still bear names giving this indication, and further, there stood a mill near the waterfall at Mill Brow for grinding corn, the power for which purpose was derived from the Wentcliffe Beck. From this mill farmers would take ground corn on pack saddle along what is now known as Sinky Lane, but which was then Mill Lane. Traces of this lane are still discernible as far as Kelbrook.
Other evidence of ancient days has been found in various parts of the district. There existed in the days of Elizabeth and long after, a bull ring in the centre of the village, as it then was, and buried under the road, now Water Street, opposite Cemetery Road, is the village well, down to which runs a short flight of steps.
It was not until the 19th century that the occupation of the inhabitants took upon itself any notable change, but with the development of hand loom weaving, a gradual, but definite change followed.
In 1840 the first cotton mill was opened in Earby, and this marked a new era in the lives of the people.

The progress met with opposition, as does any new invention which gives the impression of taking away individual livelihood, and reducing 'the number of workpeople required, and so the factory riots began, and Earby suffered in the uprising. Peaceful times returned, however, and cotton weaving firmly established itself in the town.
In the present day relics of the past are not many, but such as there are are of great interest. The old corn mill referred to no longer stands, but history is exampled in many buildings still in use. The old Grammar School, built in 1594, affords perhaps the best example, although it is no longer used as a school. This school was founded by one Robert Windle, who in his will provided £100 for the erection of the building, and invested money which would produce £20 every year " for the maintenance of a Schoolmaster teaching grammar and instructing of youth."
The building is in Elizabethan Style, and originally half of the ground floor formed the schoolroom, and the other half and the whole of the upper floor, the master's house.
The school was carried on under different managements until 1910, when it was closed. Now it houses the West Riding County Council branch circulating library.
Another interesting building is the White Lion Inn, which was built by Joshua Windle in 1681, and faced the then village green.
Several farms in the district too, are of historic construction. Take for instance Marl Field Farm, which is an Elizabethan building. Its walls are of remarkable thickness, one between the kitchen and the living room being over two yards wide, and it is said that there used to be an old stone oven in this wall in which an ox could be roasted whole.
This farm has also several walled up windows as a result of the tax imposed by Pitt on windows in houses which had more than seven.


GENERAL STATISTICS AND INFORMATION.
Population (1931 census) 5522.
Area - 3519 acres.
Density of Population - 1.57 per acre.
Rates (1935-6) - 11/6 in the £.
Rateable Value - £25,516.
Rateable Value per head of census population £4 12 5.
Rates collectible per head of census population (1935-6) £2 9 3.
Tradesmen's Half-day closing Tuesday.
Annual Holidays Commence Sunday nearest 10th July.
Other Holidays - Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. First Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in September.
Chairman of the Council Councillor A. Oates, J.P.
Clerk to the Council - Ben Hindle, Esq.
Banks Martin's (E. H. Cunliffe, Manager).
Midland (W.H. Bradley. Clerk in Charge).
Yorkshire Penny (C. P. Jacques, Cashier).
Newspapers - " Craven Herald " and " Barnoldswick and Earby Pioneer," both published Fridays in Skipton.
Advertisers - “ Earby Herald," published on Thursday by S. Coupland, Earby." Barnoldswick and Earby Advertiser, " published on Fridays, by Briggs Bros., Barnoldswick." The Bellman," published on Fridays by R. B. Carr & Sons, Barnoldswick.
EARBY CHAMBER OF TRADE.
It is particularly gratifying to a person who spends money in any legitimate business venture to realise that the money so spent will return to him. It is not always possible to say that concerning all the money which one is compelled to spend.
The primary object of the local Chamber of Trade is to do all we can to make Earby a real live shopping centre. That can only be realised when the residents give us their generous support in our attempt to make our town more self-containing and more efficient as a shopping centre.
Our slogan is " Quality for Price, and Fitness for Service.'* This keynote is the prosperity of the whole country. Many residents require to be convinced in the most decisive way that their wants can be satisfied by the traders IN the town and that no advantage is gained in shopping outside it. Side by side with this mentality has been the ambiguous attitude of a great majority who continually sigh for better times. These, however, fail to realise before better times could come a change in the spending power of the public was essential. A change of views is called for. We must face the question of retaining that prosperity which is now promising with a collective mind. We must realise that all should be prosperous if We are to be prosperous.
In Earby we have no large and luxuriously appointed city stores, and one sometimes hears it stated by critical shoppers that the smaller store is apt to run behind the times. Such generalities are usually unsafe. Within the last decade times have changed tremendously. The main point of the great social revolution, the altered tastes and the broadened outlook of the ordinary people, are carefully studied by your trader. There is to-day no room for anything like a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Customers are critical : they know just what they want, and will not be put off with a makeshift.
Healthy competition should be no bar to business, goodwill and comradeship. A town run on sound lines and broad ideas is a fine antidote to selfish aloofness and prejudice. It has been argued that people flock to the chain stores and purchase goods. But the fact is that if people looked at the articles displayed in the ordinary retailer's shop they would not go to the larger stores. We want a revival of interest, an incentive to make this town more than ever one of progress. All we ask for is equal and proper recognition in relation to our calling as traders and you will not be dissatisfied— of that we are confident.

EARBY & THORNTON GAS & LIGHT CO.
The Earby & Thornton Gas & Lighting Company was formed in the year 1894, under the Chairmanship of the late George Proctor, Esq. At that time the Gas Works were situated in Victoria Road, Earby. Gas was manufactured on this site until the year 1927, when the old works became inadequate, and New Works were erected on the present site in New Road. This served a very useful purpose to the town, in that Earby was equipped with a modern Gas Works. It also enabled the Council to widen the road by the old site in Victoria Road, a portion of the Old Gas Works being given by the Company to the Council for this purpose, the remaining land being available for the erection of shops.
The Company supplies the Urban District Council of Earby, and the Parish of Thornton, and has a total mileage of about 8 miles. The Company claims, and quite rightly, to give its consumers the best facilities, both in reliability and service. To enable consumers to obtain the very latest and most economical appliances, the easiest terms can be arranged, which are not even offered in much larger towns. With the one object in mind, that is, to encourage their consumers to burn gas economically and successfully, by using Gas for all purposes is the only way to help the Company to reduce the price to the Consumer.
Arrangements have been made to purchase Gas in Bulk from Barnoldswick. The Company will distribute the Gas as in the past. Our Consumers will reap the benefit of this, as a considerable reduction in price will be made. A New High Pressure Main will have to be laid from Salterforth to the Gas Works at Earby, and on completion of this, New Prices will operate.
AN UP-TO-DATE SHOP.
Making a tour of Earby's many shops, one is struck by the smart up-to-date appearance of a good number. Among these is the Gentlemen's Outfitting establishment of Mr P. Maynard, on the Colne Road.
This gentleman, having had considerable London experience, has a first-class business. For three years in succession he has won the Diploma for the best dressed windows in the town, and has one of the largest and best class stocks of goods in the district.



This official Guide to Earby was published by the Earby Chamber of Trade about 1937/38 as the Rev. J.Tinker was the Baptist Minister between 1926-1938.
The document was found at 13 New Road Earby in February 2006, the home of Granville & Mary Collyer (nee Flesher)
Transcribed by John Turner March 2006-03-18
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