HISTORY of EARBY . By L. E. Smith 1930

[Stanley]

HISTORY of EARBY .  By L. E. Smith 1930 
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF EARBY.
I      Earby History to 1153.
II     Thornton Church.
III    Earby from Medieval Times to the introduction of the Factory system,
IV     The Inclosure Movement.
V      The Story of Pinnaw Moor.
VI     The Development of the Factory System in Earby.
VII    The Religious Revival.
VIII   The Roads
IX     Earby Urban District Council.
X      List of Authorities Consulted.




Photo of  Earby Looking across the railway lines towards school lane
EARBY.
This photograph shows chiefly that part of Earby, which has been built since the introduction of the Factory System. The old village is not shown, and lies chiefly to the right. The road rising from Earby at the top right of the photograph leads to Thornton.  The first building can be seen in the distance.
EARBY  -  HISTORY TO 1153.
A stranger’s first impression of Earby is that it is a most uninteresting and commonplace town.  There are very few striking buildings, and there are many long monotonous rows of houses nearly all built in the same style and lacking all ornamentation.
The immediate neighbourhood contains no stately castles, no abbeys, monasteries, or even museums. We live in the remote Craven Dales, far away from the great highways of history, but even here records of ancient times can be clearly traced. The Paleolithic men seem to have left no trace of their existence in our county. One of their arrow heads has been found on Haworth Moors, about fifteen miles from Earby, but it seems to be generally accepted that men of the earlier stone age did not live north of a line drawn between the mouth of the Severn and the Wash. It is with Neolithic man that the history of our immediate neighbourhood begins. The east of Yorkshire has given evidence that great numbers of these people settled there. Thousands of flint instruments have been found, catalogued and placed in private collections and public museums.  The plough has erased every sign of their dwellings, but our lonely moors have preserved some account of their home life. In Carleton Plantation, and also on the rise behind the Mount, and on the round hill behind “Thought It” the remains of their ring forts can be clearly seen, while near the last there is one of their tumuli.  On our moors there can be found traces of crude pathways made of flat incut stones, and these are thought to be the pathways connecting the fortified dwellings.  At Raygill Lime quarry in Lothersdale some years ago the workmen found a cave which was most carefully examined by experts. The bones unearthed proved to be those of the Mammoth, the Hippopotamus, the Bison, the Boar, the Bear, the Roebuck, the giant ox, and amongst them were discovered the teeth of the cave lion.  Raygill is not a mile from the hill dwellings I have mentioned.
 A few years ago I saw a drain which had been cut between two of the round hills, and the black peaty soil told of the undrained fens of former times.  The hill sides then would be covered with dense forests, while marshes and lakes would fill in the hollow places between.  Flints have been found on these moors but they are very scarce when compared with those found on the north and south Yorkshire Wolds, proving that they were probably very precious in these wild and dangerous districts.There is little evidence of the Bronze Age in this remote district and it is thought that the new knowledge was very slow in spreading to the race living in the Craven Dales.  In 1862 an important Bronze Age Burial Mound was discovered at Scale House near Rilston (fourteen miles from Earby).  The barrow measured about thirty feet in diameter and five feet in height and was surrounded by a circle of soil at the base. The coffin was constructed out of the hollowed trunk of an oak tree and was seven feet three inches in length. Some bronze ornaments and beads and fragments of woollen cloth were found even after that great lapse of time. With the single exception of a broken bronze sword found at Ghyll Limestone Quarry I have heard of no discoveries belonging to the Bronze Age about Earby. It is known that these people had some idea of religion, and Elbolton Hill really means Sun Worship Hill.  It is believed that the ground on which Broughton Church stands was the site of a Pagan Temple.
 There is much evidence of the settlement of the Romans in this District.  We have one Roman road along the Aire Valley traversing the hollow to Colne and on to Manchester, and another came through Thornton, past Booth Bridge, and over the moors.  This hollow roadway, with lovely trees and bushes on each side, is still used, and is called “Ober” locally. To protect passengers and traffic along these roads a strong castle was erected at Elslack, or Ella’s Hollow.  It was first built square and surrounded by a clay rampart, walls and a moat. It was afterwards built larger and stronger in an oblong shape, and it is thought that the first fort was burnt down by neighbouring tribes.  The Roman name for it is not known, but the Saxons called it Burwin, which means the fortified place. From excavations it has been proved that the stronghold was used for purely military purposes and was in charge of Roman Officers. There is evidence that a secondary fort was built on Tunstead Hill.  Up to the end of the Roman period little attempt seems to have been made to form settlements in this District.  After their departure in or about 410 A.D. the Saxons came in great numbers. In course of time one Bernult came with his band and defaced the Britons, so tradition says, on Swilber, and settled at the foot of White Hill, giving the settlement his own name. Thus we got Bernulfsweke (now Barnoldswick) and Kelbrooke, Marton and Elslack which are all Saxon names and are evidently Saxon settlements.  Probably Earby was swampy or wooded, for it was not until the coming of the Danes in the nineth century that some of their number made their home here and called their small holding by the name of their stream, the Eure, or waterway. Our place name is called Eurbi” in the Domesday Book.
When William, Duke of Normandy, took possession of this Country, Yorkshire was one of the last counties to resist, and it was not until 1069 that this county was subdued.  The lower valleys of the Aire and the Wharfe were granted by the Conqueror to Ilbert de Lacy, as a reward for the part he had taken in the invasion.  This part of Craven was given to Roger de Poitevin and the upper Wharfe, stretching from Ilkley, was retained by the King for hunting purposes.  This particular district, lying between Skipton, Colne, Clitheroe and Hellifield was evidently of little use to de Poitevin, for he sold it to Hugh Bigod, Duke of Norfolk, who afterwards let it to de Lacy for five marks and one hawk a year. As a mark was worth 13s.4d. this was not an excessive rent for such a large district.  Ilbert de Lacy was succeeded by his son Herbert and his grandson Henry.  It is recorded that this Henry, Baron of Pontefract was taken seriously ill, and he sent for the monks to pray for his recovery and treat him medically.  He promised if he recovered to give the Church an abbey and endow it with sufficient land for its maintenance.  He did recover, and he gave a grant of land round Bernulfsweke, land which was not his own, although the monks were ignorant of this fact.  Now the priory of Pontefract was but an appendage of Fountains Abbey, and so Murdac the Abbot sent twelve monks and ten conversi under the charge of Alexander the Prior to found an abbey in this district.  They set off from Fountains Abbey on May 18th, 1147.  All the necessary workmen were brought, and before long the outbuildings and rooms for the accommodation of these people were erected.  The abbey was called Mount St. Mary. 
When Alexander arrived there was already in Bernulfsweke a Saxon Church with a pastor who had the spiritual oversight over four villages and two hamlets.  Friction arose between abbot and rector, and the inhabitants supported the rector and made life very unhappy for the monks, firing their ricks, breaking down fences, etc.  Alexander retaliated by burning down their church, an easy matter as it was a wooden building thatched with ling. The dispute became so acute that it was taken before the Archbishop of York.  He refused to commit himself on either side, and referred the disputants to the Pope.  Each party sent representatives to Rome and they placed their cases before the Pontiff.  He decided in favour of the Abbot saying that the lesser good must make way for the greater.  The people were beaten, but not convinced, and strife broke out again.  To add to the troubles of Mount St. Mary the Scots visited them once or twice and carried off their cattle.  To make matters still worse, for six successive years every harvest was a wet one, and consequently their crops were a failure.  Driven almost to despair Alexander determined to visit his patron at Pontefract and in 1153 he started out with a company of retainers.  On reaching Kirkstall they were overtaken by a furious storm and obtained shelter and food with some holy hermits.  This community had been instituted under the leadership of one Seleth, who said he had been directed in a vision by Mary, the virgin mother, to this spot from the south of England.
Abbot Alexander told of his troubles in this wild region and was advised by Seleth to ask for a plot of land in that neighbourhood where a plentiful supply of building stone and good timber could be easily procured, and where fish was abundant in the river.  On reaching Pontefract the whole case was put before Henry de Lacy and Alexander obtained land at Kirkstall, and the noble Cistercian Abbey was built.  After six years of turmoil and trouble in Bernulfsweke abbot, monks and retainers all removed down the valley.  Alexander became first abbot and Seleth the first Prior of Kirkstall.  When this great Abbey was in full life and splendour Alexander remembered the ruined Church and scattered congregation in Craven with sad misgivings, and to make reparation he sent his workmen and built St.Mary le Gill which should serve as a place of worship for Bernulfsweke, Martun, Thornton and Eurebi.  The abbey was reduced to the status of a grange and thenceforth people paid their tithes for the upkeep of Kirkstall Abbey.  This Church is a mile and a half from the first church, and was probably built at the extremity of the parish for the convenience of Marton.  It is built on the brink of a deep and well wooded glen from which it obtained the name of Gill Church.  There is a piece of oak in existence on which the crest of Alexander is carved - a shield with three daggers points downward. The church to-day is a plain oblong building with a tower, but no transepts.   The masonry in the nave is typically Norman, being wide jointed.  The walls are very thick and the windows are deeply splayed on the inside. 
The long lancet windows at the east end are round headed and undecorated.  There is not any decoration in the whole church.  Underneath the three windows are two Norman buttresses. On the north and south walls where the windows were probably enlarged at a later period more buttresses have been added to strengthen the walls.  These buttresses belong to the early English period, and the ones on the north side are especially notable for the number of steps and the amount of projection from the wall.  The roof of the church has a much greater slope on the north side, and so inside the church there is only one row of pillars.  The pillars are low and massive and octagonal in form.  They are perfectly plain and there is no base.  The capital is also undecorated.  The choir has been raised and the stalls repaired at a much later period.  On the N.E. end of the stalls are carved the arms of Kirkstall. The tower is perpendicular and is strengthened by butresses in front.  It is not square topped but projects on each side and so the back of the tower is much wider than the front. This steeple has the following date carved in a stone CCCCCXXIIII, intended for 1524 and the millenary numeral is omitted. The omission was designed for the stone is entire. No vicarage was ever endowed with this church and all the tithes appear to have been paid to the Lord of the Manor who nominated a curate.
In a ditch, near this Church, were found an old English tankard of wood, with a broad rim of copper, gilt and richly chased, together with a small jar of bell metal.  These were probably thrown there in some of the plundering excursions of the Scots.

Photo of Thornton Church
THORNTON  CHURCH.
Note the old lead flashing on the east end of the tower.  

THORNTON CHURCH.   II
Until the eighteenth century the only place of worship for the people of Earby was Thornton Church.  Whitaker in his History of Craven states that the “parish consists of the townships of Thornton, Eureby, and Kelbrooke, which are so many manors, though they have never been separated from the earliest times, but have passed together and in succession through the families of Percy, Kyme, Muncey, Roos, Pilkington, Manners, Lister and Kay. The church is rectorial, dedicated to St. Oswald, or, according to another account, to All Saints and is valued in the King’s books at £19. 5s. 2 ½ d. In the next place we learn from Kirkby’s Inquest 24 Edw.I that there were in Thornton, Eureby, and Kelbrooke, twelve plough lands, whereof the church was endowed with half a plough land”. The Church, like many others in this part of Craven, stands at a considerable distance from the village.  It is a plain decent building with a tower, choir, and two side aisles”. The original structure was built in the middle of the thirteenth century, and in the Townley MSS the Incumbent, probably the first, for “O Kal Maii, 1280” is stated to be William de Byrley. After about 170 years the patron of the church wished to have the church re-built.  Probably the re-building was needed, but Thomas Lord Ros, the patron, probably wished to please the pious Henry VI by showing that he also was devoted to the Church. He would also think that by re-building this church his former misdeeds would be forgiven and a warm reception would be given to him when he left this earth by reason of his good works in the parish of Thornton in Craven. 
Over the east window is an inscription in old English characters which is very difficult to decipher.  It reads as follows: When this church a quaire bildid were Thomas Ld Ros p’ron w-as here.  Of his fawle God ha-    ve mercy a benignite: amen. This may be easily translated “When this church and choir were built Thomas Lord Ros was patron.  On his soul God have mercy and loving kindness. Amen”. The man who built the tower has also perpetuated his name and the date of his work by an inscription let into the stones in copper as follows: Jams Car Baly ofThornto was found* a’ mo D’m MCCCCCX Wark wr’ p’ochyn. This means that James Carr, Bailiff or Blacksmith of Thornton was founder A.D.1510. Work wrought by the parishioners. This probably means that the parishioners did the work in the evenings gratis. The tower is a typical perpendicular tower which is strengthened by buttresses of the early English type.  The tower window is a large window of three lights.  The head is divided up into six smaller mullions which spring from the lights below. The arc of the head-of-the window is obtuse.  The lights at the head of the window are trefoil cusped.  The windows on the north and south sides of the church are square headed, and the head of the lights is round except the top window on the north side where the head of the lights is trefoil cusped. The centre window at the East End of the church is a five-lighted window and the arch is obtuse. The heads of the lights are again trefoil cusped.  The moulding of the square windows to the right and left is supported by corbells with quaint faces. These lights are also round headed. The walls of the church, including the corners are supported by early English buttresses. At the time when the church was re-built and also when the tower was added the roof was of much higher pitch, and was thatched with ling.  The old roof was taken down, probably in consequence of decay, and the pitch of the roof was made lower.  On the East End of the stone tower the old lead flashing can still easily be seen.  The inside of the church is plain and undecorated, the walls being distempered, and the roof is timber but has been put in fairly recently.  The windows are deeply splayed on the inside and the wall is two feet two inches thick.  The pillars are similar to those at Gill Church being octagonal in shape with no base. On the highest point of ground in the village commanding anoble prospect of the northern boundary of Craven stands the vicarage. This was re-built by Mr. Richardson about 150 years ago. Adjoining the vicarage, where the farm named Thornton Hall stands is the site of the old manor house.  The old Thornton Manor was surrounded by a moat, and builders to-day who have had experience in digging about that land, state that the Thornton Manor must have been very large as the foundations cover a great area. During the Civil war in 1643 Sir William Lister was the Lord of the Manor in Thornton.  Sir William must have been one of the few country gentlemen who refused to fight on the side of the Royalists for Sir John Mallory, Governor of Skipton Castle, an ardent Royalist, despatched an army, led by Lord Darcy and Major Hawes to take Thornton Manor, and punish the men of Thornton who dared to defy King Charles.  News of the march of the army spread to Thornton and the people all gathered together in the Manor House, the drawbridge was drawn up, and a long and stubborn defence was made.  When they could not hope to hold out any longer the Parliamentarians escaped by means of the tunnel which is over a mile in length.  Thornton Manor was now in the possession of the Royalists and the men of Thornton were for the moment routed. They gathered together their forces however, and made an attempt to re-take the manor House in 1644, but the Royalists burnt the Manor.  During this last siege the heir of the Braddyll family of Portfield, lost his life, for in the Townley MSS. Christopher Townley,his kinsman, says “ Jo Braddall set 2D, Captain for the Parliament, going to the siege of Sir William Lister’s house, at Thornton in Craven, there had a shot from the said house, near unto his shoulder, of which he died, and was buried at Whalley, July 27th, 1644.” The Thornton Parish register contains the following entries in latin: Buried two soldiers, killed Dec.26. 1642. (the names of these are not recorded and so it is thought that they were Ironsides) Buried Hargreaves of Stothill, killed Dec.30th.1642, (This man is thought to be a Royalist) Buried a soldier. April 26.1643. Buried thirteen soldiers, killed July 26.1643. From these entries it may be inferred that the first siege began in December, 1642 and went on until July, 1643, when thirteen soldiers were killed.  This reverse was probably the cause of the flight of the Parliamentarians from the Manor House. At the end of the eighteenth century a great deal of rubbish was removed from this place preparatory to the building of the present Thornton Hall.  While this was being done a room was discovered which had escaped destruction by the fire and all old furniture was there standing as it had been left in 1644. 

 Photo of Green End Road.   Photos of Waddington Fold Farm and Hill Top Farm

III EARBY FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES TO THE TIME OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM.
 I have said before that Earby today has an uninteresting appearance because of its long, monotonous rows of houses built round the cotton mills.  Before these mills were built, however, there were no long rows of houses, and so Earby at the beginning of the 19th Century must have been very different from what it is to-day.  Old people in Earby are eager to relate of how, when they were young, there were no buildings from Island square to the station, and beyond the station, which was built about fifty years ago, there were just a few cottages. 
Today, the main part of Earby lies between Island Square and the Station, and some old people still speak of the part of the town above Island Square as the old village. The farm buildings are all of a good age.  Fiddling Clough, Oak Slack, Marl Field, Dodgson’s, Windle Field, High Gate and Higher and Lower “Vargus”, or Verjuice, were all standing in the 18th Century.  Most of these farms were repaired or re-built from about 1720-1800, and so the farms were probably in existence long before 1700. At Hodge Syke, Mill Brow and Town Head are other old houses. These, with the dilapidated Smithy opposite the old “stores”, a few cottages up Aspen Lane and Riley Street, a long row at Green End, and the cottages up Stoope’s Hill and Stoney Bank, together with the buildings about Lane End, Island Square, and Mr.Dodgson’s Smithy, Hill Top, the Grammar school and the White Lion Inn, almost comprise the whole of the old village.
 In 1800, the population, which is now over 6,000, was less than three hundred, and there were between fifty and sixty houses. There are no written records of the life in Earby before this time but from tradition, place names and relics a picture can be made of Earby in medieval times. Whitaker, in his History of Craven, states that in the Middle Ages all the land was cultivated by the people under the Lord of the Manor.  Each messuage had a croft annexed to it, but all the rest of the land lay in common.  Even the meadow grounds lay in 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 was a wide stretch of moor and fell grazed by the sheep. This general description by Whitaker could, I think, be applied to the land round Earby.  The Baptist cemetery has been named after the field of which it once formed a part “Wheatlands” and this field of four acres would certainly grow enough corn to supply the needs of the people of Earby.  Probably some of the men of Earby who held farms under the Lord of the Manor would be tenants at will and they would grow corn on their land.  The meadow attached to Windle Field Farm at the top of Dark Lane on the way to Fiddling Clough is still called the Corn Field, and the meadow at the top of Shaw Lane by the sheep fold is called the corn field. The corn was ground at the mill which stood near the waterfall, and the mill wheel was turned by power from Wentcliffe beck.
In the hollow below the waterfall the old inhabitants say there was a dam which was used for the corn mill.  The farmers used to bring their corn to be ground here, and they would travel with their bags of grain on pack saddle along the land which is now known as Sinky Lane.  This land used to be known as Mill Lane, and many people still give it this name.  It passed along Stoney Bank near Moor Hall and Baw Head to Kelbrooke. Where Earlham Terrace now stands was a field which was once known as Thirlham Tithe Barn Croft.  Here stood a tithe barn where farmers had to deliver one tenth of their produce for the support of the Church, and the tenth cow, pig, and even chicken used to be taken to this tithe barn. photograph of Waterfalls. (no photo in Book, jt note) The Corn Mill stood by the side of this stream and was driven by water power.  The dam was in the hollow below the waterfall, and the mill was a few yards further down the stream.
The farmers of this district also used to grow fruit trees. The name for an enclosed piece of land near a farm building in this district used to be garth, and the field on which New Road school stands was known as Applegarth.  Also the meadow directly in front of Windle Field is called Orchard Meadow.  It is an interesting fact to notice that the famous American Baldwin apple came from this neighbourhood.  A farmer at Ingthorpe Grange, Marton, called Baldwin had an apple tree in his orchard of which he was very proud.  He heard that fortunes could be made in the United States and so he emigrated there, taking with him a bundle of cuttings from his favourite tree.  Other farmers in the States noticed his apples and begged cuttings from his trees.  The superior climatic conditions had improved the fruit and soon the Baldwin apples became famous and the trees were spread over the New England States and Canada, and became a source of income for the people there. While the farmers around Earby had their corn lands and meadowlands and orchard the men in the village had also the right to use some land.  The men, it seems, from what old inhabitants have heard from their forbears, were either yeomen or agricultural labourers, but even these labourers had the right to use the village green.  This green stretched from Bethesda Street to the top of New Road and was an open piece of grassland with a pond or small lake where Rushton Avenue stands. This land today has the name of Tranmire, and I believe the word was originally Tarnmire, meaning a boggy lake.  Until very recently the road known as Riley Street was called Catgate and this is probably a corruption of cattle gate and the inhabitants of Earby would drive their cattle through this gate on to the green for free pasturage. Here also the children would play and the men and women would stroll in the evenings.  Youths would play games of cricket or quoits, and on the mire, no doubt, the boys skated and made slides in winter. In the middle of the green stood a Smithy.  My grandparents had often heard of the blacksmith who worked there.  He seems to have been a typical village blacksmith with a strong and brawny arm.  He made the village famous even as far as Westmorland and Cumberland for he was a noted wrestler. At intervals the stage coach would bring well dressed men from the north who came with some champion wrestler of their own country side to back him against our blacksmith.  He would coolly lay aside his leather apron and invariably throw the stranger, to the delight and pride of the assembled villagers.   When the men returned to their homes in the stagecoach they would have to go through the cattle gate and over a ford to the old road at the other side of the beck.  Water Street was not in existence then and all the traffic had to pass along this old road to the land End.  All traffic going out of the village left by Lane End and this road was exceedingly muddy and often in a state of flood.  It was no uncommon sight to watch horses splashing through the water, drawing vehicles whose wheels were submerged up to the hubs. The cottages in Earby used to be thatched with rushes, straw or ling.  Indeed some old people state that their parents remembered the time when all the buildings were thatched in this way.
The village well was opposite to Cemetery Road and where the Baptist Chapel stands, the site of Bailey’s shop and down to Boocock’s shop, was a field which sloped suddenly downward to the stream. People could cross this field from several directions with their buckets and go down a flight of steps to the village well for water. A short time ago in digging a drain the old well and the  steps were disclosed, and it was covered by flagstones in order that the well should be preserved. Above the village well was a large open space, which was known as the Bullring by the old villagers. Here in the days of Elizabeth and long after, the bull would be fastened to a ring by a chain, which was attached to another ring in the animal’s nose. Then the dogs were urged to attack, and men, women and children watched and contributed to the collection to compensate the owners for any loss sustained. There is a Bull ring at Elslack and the heavy embedded stone with its strong iron ring can still be seen.

  Photo of Water Street looking towards Stoney Bank Road

On the photograph the stream runs in front of the house on the left hand side, and is enclosed by railings. The field sloped downward from the right.  ( The site of the village well.) The ground used for the bull ring. The turn of the road to the right hand side was known as Cat Gate. The old road ran behind the stream on the left hand side. Another popular form of amusement was cockfighting. A curious reminder of this may be seen in the fact that in the agreement every tenant of Park Side Farm has to sign a clause in which he binds himself to 1. Rear and train at least one fighting cock per annum.  2. Keep and exercise one puppy hound. 3.  Have all the corn ground at Elslack Clough Mill. This mill no longer stands and the farmer does not grow any corn but he still signs this agreement. All the farmers round this district used to pay a rent which they called “Lord of Manor Rent”. This was paid to the head of the Manor at Thornton but I have been unable to find out in most cases when the farmers stopped paying this rent. I was surprised to discover a farm on Barnoldswick hills however, which paid a “Lord o’ manor rent” until about twenty years ago. They had no idea why they paid this rent, but a man came round every year and demanded this money. These farmers were advised one year to ask why they had to pay this money, “and”, they said triumphantly, “he never came again after we asked him”.  It seems, however, that this rent had been paid from time immemorial, and had been collected by the bailiff, but I have been unable to find out who the man was who collected the rent as recently as twenty years ago. Many of the farms in Earby are very interesting historically. Marl Field, for instance, is an Elizabethan building, and its walls are remarkable for their great thickness. One of the inside walls between the farm kitchen and the ‘living room’ is over two yards wide, and the inhabitants state that there used to be an old stone oven in this wall where an ox could be roasted whole.  This farm has also several walled up windows as a result of the tax Pitt imposed on windows in all houses which had more than seven. These windows are stated to have been walled up in 1798.

 Photo of White Lion Inn and the Old Grammar School 
Another interesting building is the White Lion Inn.  This was built by Joshua Windle in 1681 and it faced the village green. It was no doubt looked on as an acquisition by the people when beer was the only beverage drunk by the people, and also Thornton boasted of four inns at this time, and so the people of Earby cannot be blamed for desiring one. A building which is older than the White Lion Inn by about 80 years is the Old Grammar school, properly called Robert Windle’s Free school. This stands on about half an acre of land and is built in Elizabethan style.  According to a Church terrier, entered in Thornton Parish Register the school was founded by Robert Windle in 1594.  All that is known about him is that he was a man of substance for he left £100 for the erection of the school and invested money in the estate of his brother-in-law, one Henry Mitchell of Glusburn, husband of his sister Alice, to produce £20 every year.  The earliest document in connection with the school is dated 22nd April, 1658, which states that : “ in perform­ance of the godly intent of Robert Windle, a Clerk, £20 was to be paid for maintenance of a schoolmaster teaching grammar and instructing of youth within the parish of Thornton, and over and above did disburse one hundred pounds at the least in building a school house and purchasing a parcel of land in Earby”. As years passed the purchasing power of £1 decreased and the £20 became insufficient for the schoolmaster’s salary and so a fee was charged.  The ingenious reason was given, that although grammar was taught free, payment must be made for the other subjects. According to a report made to the Charity Commissioners in 1894 “The school formerly consisted of a two storeyed house, in front of which was a garden. The house was of Elizabethan style having two low pitched rooms, and was entered by a porch.   One half of, the ground floor formed the school room, and the other half and the whole of the upper floor, the master’s house.  The late Rector in his lifetime: ‘added a kitchen to the master’s house and the school was said to have been rebuilt between 1840 and 1848.  In the present year in consequence of the requirements of the education department, the whole building, with the exception of the porch and the kitchen has been converted into one schoolroom.’ So far as living memory extends the school has never been a free school in the sense of no fees being charged.  It was farmed and the schoolmaster made what he could out of it.  In theory, the children of the labourers were educated free, and the children of farmers were charged a weekly fee of 1d or 2d.  In practice, however every scholar had to pay to the schoolmaster an entrance of 1/- and the weekly fees amounted to as much as 6d until competition from the Wesleyan School in 1872 forced the school­master to reduce them.  Latin, the teaching of which is said by the report of 1826 to have been discontinued about 1780 to 1790, was never taught there again.  Practically all the children in Thornton and Earby attended the school until 1840, when it was closed in order that a sufficient sum might be accumulated out of the endowment to rebuild it.  In the meantime the children either went to a school kept by an army officer at Elslack or, if they wished, attended a small school in the village, which was kept by another army man, who made what he could out of his pupils in the way of fees.  The school was reopened again in 1848 on the same footing as before and it came under the inspection of the Education Department in 1879, when the average attendance was 53, and it was conducted as a Public Elementary School until 1910 when the Alder Hill School was opened.  During the last years of the schools existence as a school it does not appear to have been very prosperous for the report of 1894 states “The present master was appointed to his office about 15 years ago, and for some time kept up a consider­able school, having frequently 60 to 80 children under his care as English scholars, but latterly the school has declined, and the number of scholars has decreased to about half the number above stated.  Whether this falling off was to be attributed to neglect or infirmity in the master did not distinctly appear; there seemed reason however to believe that he had become less attentive than he was formerly to the duties of his office, and that owing thereto several of the parents had withdrawn their children from the school and sent them to be educated at other places”. To-day the school is used as a Junior Conservative Club and the £20 per year and the rent is used for scholarships for the children of Earby. The children of Earby and Thornton have been very fortunate, therefore, as provision has been made for their education since 1600, and this provision would be sufficient at that time.   I have been unable to discover what advantage the people took of this provision for the education of the children in its early years but probably most of the village children would go unless they were too poor.  I should not think the people of Earby were very poor from 1600 to 1700, and before that time there was plenty of land for each man and wide stretches of moorland which lay in common, but undoubtedly there would be times of distress when the harvests were bad.  The nearest workhouse, and the workhouse to which people in this district went was, I think at Bolton-by-Bowland.  A man whose father as a child had lived in this workhouse told what he remembered of his father’s stories of the workhouse.  This child was probably in the workhouse about 1840.  The mother and father had died in an epidemic of fever which they were unable to resist because their resistance had been lowered in fighting the famine, which was continually at their door. Their only living child, - many had died-, was taken to the Holding Clough Workhouse.  Anyone who needed complete maintenance was taken into the workhouse and people of every kind and class almost were found there.  This little boy had his young life haunted in the workhouse by fear of an idiot who took a great delight in following him.   They also took sick people in the workhouse, and so the few little children there were surrounded by people who were either ill or mad or old.  Their chief occupation seems to have been chopping wood until they were old enough to be apprenticed.  Some children were sent to the new factories while others were apprenticed to the farms.  This little boy when he was eight was given a new suit and a new shirt and a pair of shoes and then he was apprenticed to a farmer.  The farmer promised to treat him well and provide him with sufficient food and clothing.  The boy was fortunate for the farmer kept his promise and later he became an independent labourer on the farmer’s land and when he got married he had a cottage and a small piece of land.  Man and wife lived frugally and saved enough money to rent a farm in Earby.  He was an intelligent man and took advantage of new inventions in agriculture and his farm became a very prosperous one.  His son owns the farm to-day and he concentrates chiefly on dairy produce, and unlike his father does not grow any corn. There was also a workhouse at Laneshaw Bridge, but there is mention in some old records of Holding Clough which was the work­house to which the poor in this parish went, and this was, I think at Bolton by Bowland. There are still some stocks standing at Thornton, and as Earby was in the same Parish these stocks would be used to punish wrong doers in our village
The chief offence seems to have been poaching, and there were, I have heard, some notorious poachers in this district.  Earby used to be one of the most picturesquely wooded parts of Craven, and these poachers tried to vary their daily menu by catching rabbits etc. in the woods. The boles and roots of great trees can still be seen on the hedge sides and about the outskirts of the town.  These trees were cut down about 1820, as the local land­owners experienced reverses of fortune and in an attempt to stave off the catastrophe they cut down the timber and sold it.  During the French Revolution the landowners were prosperous and it was at this time that the fields which are known as the “corn fields” were probably enclosed.  This land was unfitted for corn, but the landowners found it worth while to cultivate the land in this way during the war years.  When the demand ceased the landowners suffered.  There were also several bad harvests and as cheap corn could not be obtained owing to the effect of the Corn Laws, and as the taxes were very high to pay for war the people of Earby suffered from lack of food and money.

THE ENCLOSURE MOVEMENT.   IV.
Further suffering was probably caused by the enclosing of certain lands which had belonged to the people.  The common lands were enclosed by a special act of 1825, but the village green had been enclosed earlier at a date I have been unable to discover. The Act states that “Whereas there are within the Manor and Parish of Thornton, in the West Riding of the County of York, certain Commons and Moors, commonly known or called by the several names of Thornton Moor, Kelbrook Moor, Bleary Haugh, and Howshaw — and several small Parcels of Waste or uninclosed Land, containing in the whole One Thousand Acres, or thereabouts:And Whereas Sir John Lister Kaye, Baronet, is Lord of the said Manor of Thornton, and as such is owner of the Soil of all the said Commons, Moors and Wastelands ----- And Whereas the said Sir John Lister Kaye is feifed of the perpetual Advowson, Right of Patronage and Presentation ---- and the Reverend Robert Gee, Clerk is Rector of the said Parish, and in right of the said Rectory is feifed of certain Glebe lands and the right of common belonging thereto; and is, or claims to be entitled to all the Great and Small Tythes arising growing and renewing within the said Parish ----And Whereas the said Commons Moors and Waste Lands are, in their present state, of very little profit of benefit to the several persons interested therein; and it would be of great advantage to such several persons if the said Commons, Moors and Waste Lands were divided and enclosed”. In consequence of this appeal Royal Assent was given on the 14 June 1819 to an Act of “inclosing and exonerating from Tythes, Lands in the Manor and Parish of Thornton in Craven”.  William Pilkington was appointed sole commissioner for carrying out this Act and the Thornton Award, for 1825 described the arrangements he made for enclosing the land, for the making of “new drains, ditches and water courses and their maintenance, and for the appointment and care of “Public High Roads, Private Roads and Footways.” As a result of this Act the Moors were surrounded with walls to keep the people out, and the roadside land was fenced and claimed. To add an appearance of sanctity to the proceedings the moor, commonly called the “Parson’s Bit” between the Mount and Elslack Moor Road was given over to the Church.  This enclosure caused a great deal of distress especially to the labourers and small farmers. Many stories of the distress caused are told, and one especially shows how cruelly some of the people were dealt with. A man named Harrison lived at the Mount.  He had a large family, and to assist in keeping the wolf from the door he had, with great care and laborious spade work, broken up about four acres of moor just over the wall from the Mount. Here he grew oats, potatoes, and turnips, and so was able to feed his family. Someone warned the Clergyman that if the man farmed the land another year he was entitled to possession.  The enclosure Acts state that if land had been enclosed before this for twenty years the owners should be entitled to possess the land.  The Clergyman therefore, demanded a rent which Harrison refused to pay.  Eviction followed, and the sorrow and disappointment is said to have caused his death. Three pieces of common land were not enclosed, and these are known as Town’s pieces.  These consist of land, with a quarry, at the top of Cob Lane, Kelbrooke, land, together with an old quarry at the East side of Coolham Lane, and land on the West side of Coolham Lane.  The people from the village were allowed to go to these places for stones, but they were no longer allowed to graze sheep on the moor, and there was no longer any chance of becoming the owner of land by breaking up dome moor land.

THE STORY OF PINNHAW MOOR.   V.
Our favourite stretch of moorland in Earby is Pinnaw. Oliver Cromwell is supposed to have tramped over it, but that story is traditional.  It is certain however, that up till 1816 Pinnaw Moor was used as a Beacon Hill.  On the summit stood a hut, the remains of which can still be seen.  In this shelter the beacon guards kept watch, and near the hut was a stout pole which upheld a tar barrel filled with combustible materials. In 1805 the chief beacon guard was called Robert Wilson. He and his two helpers had to keep a sharp lookout, especially to the beacon hill of Bouldsworth, beyond Colne.  An attack upon the English coast was expected for they had heard that Buonaparte had made very preparation for an invasion of this country.  In the winter of 1805 there was a great snowstorm which raged over the whole country.  The sky was dark and the snow fell for days, keeping the beacon guards prisoners.  Their milk and provisions were at last exhausted and Robert Wilson declared that he was going to cross the moor to Moor Side Farm for supplies.  The other men tried to dissuade him, without success.  He took his bag and milk can and stepped out into the swirling snow. His companions waited in vain for his return.  When the storm abated the men made their way into the village and a search party was organised. Robert Wilson’s body was found about four hundred yards from the hut.  On the spot where he perished a stone was erected by his friends, on which these words were engraved :”Here was found dead the body of Robert Wilson, one of the beacon guards, who died January 29, 1805, aged 59 years.”  The stone is still there, though the lettering is very difficult to decipher.


THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM IN EARBY.  VI.
In the 18th. century and the beginning of the 19th century the occupation of the people in Earby was almost entirely farming, poultry rearing and handloom weaving.  When the village green and other common lands were enclosed the people began to rely more and more on the handlooms to provide them with daily necessities.  Nearly every house, including the farm houses, possessed a hand loom, and when the farmer and his wife had time to spare they spent it at the loom.  When the piece was finished the weaver carried on his head to Haworth, Keighley Lane Ends, or Colne, and there he was paid for his piece, and brought back more warps which he had to dress before they could be used,  The weft had to be made also, and many old people have told me that they used to wind bobbins for their mother when they were small children. During the 18th century the hand loom weavers were prosperous, and there was a demand for their goods, but the conditions changed in the 19th century.  The people found that the clothier at Keighley or Colne would no longer pay them as much money when they took their pieces, and Mr. Bracewell, who had opened a receiving warehouse at Green End could no longer pay a good price for the pieces.  This was a time of great distress and poverty. The majority of the men had been small tenant farmers and cottagers, and the enclosure had hit them hard.  They had been compelled to find work as labourers on the farms or in the quarries.  The farmers paid low wages, and the men who worked in the quarries at Lothersdale are reported to have earned 2/6d. a day.  All the men could not find work in this way and the rest relied on the hand loom to support them.  Many sad stories are told of the poverty at this time.  I heard a story from an old lady of 85 which illustrates the terrible conditions under which the people were living.  Her father was a hand loom weaver, and he took his finished piece to Keighley Lane Ends every week, carrying it on his back.  One week when he arrived at the receiving warehouse the clothier was unable to pay him.  He was told to wait until the following week for his money.  The father, during his long walk back to Earby, had something to worry about because he did not possess a penny to buy food to feed his wife and children during the following week.  His wife was waiting for the money when he arrived home, for the children were hungry.  When she heard the news she, being a resourceful woman, began to prepare a meal from what she had.  She put some meal in a frying pan and added salt and pepper to it, and after the family had eaten that there was no more food in the house.  My old lady told me that she lay down on the floor and said that she was going to die, but the father returned with some money, having pawned the kitchen table.
The minute book of the Skipton Vestry and also the minutes taken at the workhouse show that the people were having a struggle to live, and the extracts are also interesting as they show the powers and duties of the Skipton Vestry, the churchwardens and overseers.
29 June1826
John Scott, wife - husband a weaver - they have three
children, Mary Ann 31/2. Jane 2 - Wm.-1/4- wants 2/-per week. till times mend ------------------ refused.
20 July1826
Wm. Metcalfe his wife and four chi.d  only earns 5/6 Pr. week.with combing---------------- settlement to be inquired.
 
Wm. Stoddart applies to be a overlooker
on the road  wants 15/ Pr week and will alow 4/ Pr day for every day he of drinking ------------------    to have 12/- Pr week.
3 Aug.1826.
John Dawson from near Bradford - wool comber – wife and 2 Child.  no work. Landlord distrained for rent.  Wants a month pay till time mend     to have 30/- to make it last a month.  30/ paid
17 Aug.1826
Betty Hackworth wants shoes soling or a pair of clogs. Mary Walker, single woman-from Bradley weaves - earns 1/9 Pr week -- - - - -   refused.
Oct. 1826
Ordered, that no New Cloths willIn future be paid for by the town for the Bell Man.
11 January1827
Thomas Spencer wife wants their goods returning that taken by H. Jackson for rent – clock, looms and Table to remain at the workhouse till paid.
5 child-    she to have 9/- paid in money

 
12 April1827
Jonas Greenwood  aged 74  wants 2/6 P week – earn about 3/- P week with sowing and has meat when out. To go to workhouse.
1 Decr.1831
Harry Metcalfe wants the town to buy him an ass .... Refused.
7 July1836
Hannah Hird,  Blanket Petticoat and Handkerchief. Has 3/- P week-------Petticoat and handkerchief allowed
7               Nov.1833
Ann Green has 2/6 a week wants few shillings to buy coals-------------------------- A load of coals granted

 It is clear that relief was given in money, fuel, food, clothing or rent.  It is also apparent that the wages at this time were very low and probably the employers gave low wages knowing that the parish might grant relief.  The parish would not grant relief to people who did not belong to the parish, for there are examples when application for relief are refused because the applicant did not belong to the parish. Sometimes the people had to go to the workhouse and they strongly objected to this form of relief.  Some old people in Earby still call the Skipton Workhouse Bastille.* *Note: The expression they use is “ ‘Th’owd Bastile”. 
A mill was opened by Mr. Dewhirst early in the 19th century in Skipton for cotton weaving, but this does not seem to have relieved the people much.  The following extract from the same minute book shows the low wages received. 2 September     “Thomas Clark, 14, works at mill. 1830. Only 2/- Per week, wants some close almost naked.    To have some close and charged to I. Thornton.”
In Earby distress was great among the agricultural weavers and a great many had out door relief. Their lands had been enclosed and the wages they received from the hand loom weaving were about 6/- a week at the most, according to reports I have received from the old inhabitants. The people pawned their furniture and had old boxes for tables and stools. It was a common thing for the beds to be made of straw or shavings, and some old people remember going to the moors as children to gather heather to make their beds softer. Also the children went to the woods to gather sticks so that they could have a fire. Their food was very simple.
 Everyone in Earby had some baked bread. Until the last few years a house-wife who bought bread was the subject of gossip and the things said about her were not very complimentary.  The flour used was the kind we had during the war years, I was told, and the people were very glad when they could have bread to eat.  Their chief food was porridge. Oatmeal played a very large part in their diet.  After having a breakfast of oatmeal and water the dinner would often consist of a dish called stir-about.  This was made by melting some fat in a frying pan and adding oatmeal and salt.
Sometimes when a pig was killed, or a sheep, the farmers would sell some of the cheaper portions to the people, and the days when meat appeared on the table were red letter days. Dr. Cooke Taylor describes the conditions in Colne, which is five miles from Earby, in 1842. He says he saw children there “grubbing for the rubbish of roots.” “The children were in rags, but not in filth — I never before saw poverty which inspired respect and misery which demanded involuntary homage.” In Earby the same story may be told. The people had a terrible struggle to live and yet through it all they tried to retain their self respect. Some people who had been prosperous hand loom weavers and yeomen hated the thought of taking relief, and they tried to live without it even when all the food they had was a little meal which they eked out by boiling nettles with it.  A dish called nettle porridge was very popular and with reason.  The weavers struggled to live in this way but many were compelled to seek relief or starve. Each week a man came round from Skipton to give the cottagers their relief, which was generally 2/- or 3/- a week. About 1840 a cotton mill was opened in Earby in the old corn mill, and later the mill known as the old shed was opened. Although it was greatly “against the grain” the people had to allow their children to work in the mills or starve, or what was even worse in their eyes, go to the “Bastile”.  Mr. Bracewell, the son of the man who had the receiving warehouse for the finished pieces of the hand loom weavers was the owner of the mill. It was supplied with bobbins from Booth Bridge Bobbin Mill. This mill used to be a corn mill for the people of Thornton, and when it was no longer needed for that purpose it was opened by a man named Wilkinson who supplied the hand loom weavers of the district with bobbins.  Later when the power loom developed after 1812 he became very prosperous as he supplied the mills in the surrounding districts as far as Burnley and Blackburn with bobbins.  About 1900 his business was so great that he transferred it to Barrow and Booth Bridge Mill is now a ruin.  At the beginning of the 19th. century, however, the business of supplying the mills was just beginning and some men and boys in Earby were glad to be employed there.  This mill was surrounded by trees and so there was a plentiful supply of wood near for the making of bobbin and wooden agricultural instruments.  I have spoken to a few men who were employed in the mill at the age of seven. They had to clean the machines and clear away the shavings and do any odd job which the men told them to do.  One man spoke with obvious distaste of his days at the mill. The men were rough and bad language and cursing was heard frequently.  Among other things he told me something of great interest.  A circular saw was used for cutting the wood and this saw rested on two round stones. These stones were probably the stones used in the corn mill in previous years. The mill was at first run entirely by water power and old maps show the mill goit by the mill.  It was not looked upon as “the work of the devil” as the new cotton and spinning mills in Earby were. The people hated these mills and this antipathy had been growing for many years ever since the introduction of power looms into the big towns. They thought that the only way to regain their prosperity was to stop the working of the mills and so they encouraged the rioters when they passed through Earby on their way to Keighley. There were also a band of men in this district called “plug drawers”, one old man told me an amusing story of the plug drawers. “Jack o’ Doad’s” he said “were stannin’ in t’ Mill Loine, when t’plug drawers cam along an’ he thowt as how he’d like to watch ‘em. But t’ plug drawers were ter quick fer im an’ they “pressed” ‘im. They were after ‘im goin’ alang wi’em dahn Earby an’ inta Skipton to pull t’ plugs.”   “Jack didn’t like this a bit, an’ so he hung back a bit, an’ one o’t scouts at were at back said “What are ter barn ter do ?”, “’an Jack said he were getting a cudgil because all t’ others hed cudgils and he wanted one.” “So he hung back ter get a cudgil an’ when t’ scouts weren’t looking he off’s back inter Earby as fast as his legs ‘Id carry ‘im.” These plugs drawers stopped the old shed and then they went on to Skipton. When they got there they robbed the shops of cheese and other food and prepared to have a royal feast, feeling full of good spirits as they had “pressed” several young men and they had visions of future triumphs.  These were short lived, for Mr. Ingham, the magistrate had gone on horseback to Burnley to bring “t’ military”, and when the soldiers arrived the plug drawers were soon dispersed, or, as the old man said “they scuttled away like frightened rabbits.” Active opposition to the mills ceased when it was dealt with in this way, and the Old Shed employed a good proportion of the men, women and children in Earby in 1850.  The children were taken when they were very young, and I have spoken with men who worked at the Old Shed or at Booth Bridge when they were seven years old. About 1850 the distress in Earby was becoming less acute, although the wages paid at the factory were very small, when the old village was visited by a terrible Small-pox epidemic. The houses round the Old Shed, which had been built in the last few years, and the cottages in Island Square and the lower part of Earby were free from Small-pox, and the people did not go into the old village but they left food for them at the bottom of the town every day.   During the epidemic no one left the old village, although the funerals were frequent.  The sufferers were cared for by one woman, who, although she had five children, including a baby eight months old, spent the whole day in nursing, and in caring for the people.  She also had a washing machine in the street where she washed the clothes of many of the villagers as she firmly believed the disease would spread if the clothes of the people were dirty. Every night when she returned home, she bathed and changed her clothes in the wash house and then went to her own room.  This brave woman continued living in this way, until, largely through her exertions, the epidemic was conquered.  Earby did not possess a doctor at that time, but a doctor came over from Barnoldswick to give directions.
Earby now possessed two mills and the population was increasing, Agricultural labourers came from Thornton, Marton and Elslack to work in these mills, and so Earby became the most important of these villages. The owner of the mills became very rich as there was a market for his goods and labour was cheap, and the Victoria Mill, which was capable of providing work for four hundred people, was built. Children used to be employed in the mills at the age of seven in 1850, and so the Factory Acts could not have been enforced very strictly here. I believe that the children who were employed at seven misrepresented their ages to the authorities and so the owners were not entirely to blame. As far as I have been able to discover all the mill “hands” worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.  They had half an hour for breakfast and an hour for dinner. After the Act of 1844 children from the ages of eight to ten were only employed on three alternate days.  Theses children were called “doffers” and they went to the Grammar School on the days they were not employed at the mill.  Their “school pence” were paid by the owner of the factory and these pence, the old people say, were stopped out of their wages.  The people were so poor that they were eager for their children to begin work, and some of them began before they were eight years old.  I have found two cases where this I happened. One lady aged about sixty began work in the mills at seven.  She was a big girl, and so the employer at the mill believed her, or pretended to believe her, when she said that she was eight years old.  Her first wage was l/6d. and she was very proud to be able to bring this money home.  Her attendance at school was not at all regular, for she had often to help her mother and look after the younger children and the house.  She had eleven brothers and sisters, and the mother and father, who had been hand loom weavers, were compelled to send their children to the mill as soon as they were old enough.  When a few of the children were working they were able to indulge in what they felt to be luxuries.  They had white bread instead of rye bread, and meat on Sundays for the children who were working.  Those who were not working were allowed to have the gravy. After 1878 no children were employed in the mills below the age of ten.  As inspectors came round the mills this rule was enforced. The conditions under which the people worked were far from satisfactory.  The sanitary conditions were bad, ventilation was poor, and the hours were long.  Some people have told me that at this time during the winter months, they never saw daylight from Sunday until Saturday.  These people came from the farms and out­lying districts to work at the mills and brought dinner with them. During the dinner hour they were busy cleaning machinery, mending faults in the cotton or many other odd job. When they left the mill at 6-30 p.m. or 5-30 p.m. night had fallen. This life of deadly monotony continued during the whole year. Some people who are weaving in the mills to-day at sixty or more years began at the age of ten at least.  It was not until 1918 that the Factory age was raised to 14 and half time was abolished. It is wonderful to realise that men who were working in the mills all day spent the evenings at the Mechanics’ Institute and spent their spare time on Saturday labouring to build chapels for worship on the Sunday. The Mechanics’ Institute occupied a very prominent part in the intellectual life of the people.  Some men went there to learn how to read and write while others attended classes held by the army officer school master.  This man did not have any fees but he received so much money for everyone who passed the examination. And so the boys who were in classes under him had to work very hard. “Penny Readings” were held at the Institute and here the men, beside learning to read, discussed books and the great problems of the day. The men who met together at the Institute are remembered today sterling worth. Many were local preachers who went round to the villages on Sunday and preached in the small chapels. They were not wealthy in this world’s goods. Some, I have heard, preached each Sunday in clogs, but their names are remembered in the town to-day because of their forceful oratory. They were the leaders of the thought in Earby, and Earby owes a great deal to these men who sacrificed much for the spiritual well being of the people.
In 1886 the people of Earby had to face a great calamity.  The Victoria Mill, which employed the largest number of people in Earby, was burnt down. From the accounts given of this great conflagration it must have been an awe inspiring, splendid, yet terrible, sight. Men laboured with an inefficient fire brigade to put the fire out, but in vain.  The people were again faced with the problem of finding work.  Fortunately the cotton industry was prosperous and so work was found at Colne, Barnoldswick, Nelson and Burnley until the mill was re-built.  For many years, during the time when the cotton industry was prosperous there was scarcely any poverty, but since the war, with the depression in the cotton trade there has been unemployment or short time work, also many people are working on two or three looms instead of four, which is the usual number. All the manufacturers say that it is difficult to find a market for their goods.  One man said to me “When we used to go to the Stock Exchange at Manchester men came to us to bargain for our goods. Now we have to go round and beg people to buy.”


THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL.  VII.
In 1147 when Alexander and his monks came to found an abbey in Bernulfsweke there was already a Saxon Church there with a Pastor who had spiritual oversight of four villages and two hamlets.  He had a house in the village and a certain allotment of land called “Glebe land”.  Whitaker says that “ it was thought proper that the glebe should be restricted within such limits as would suffice for the production of milk, butter, cheese and animal food, and such other articles as require little labour while the bread, corn and other grain of the minister should be supplied by the industry of his parishioners.  And if the labour of the minister fed the people, as it was his office to do, with “the bread that endureth” there was beauty and harmony, as well as equity, in requiring that their labour should feed him in return with that “which perisheth?” This system in its broad outlines continued throughout the middle ages, but Whitaker does not give a good report of the work of the clergy.  Whitaker says that this district that is, Craven, has “never been distinguished by the piety and labours of its clergy and one fact is certain, let the cause be what it will, that in no part of England are the Churches more negligently attended, in none does there appear a more general indifference to religious duties.”
During the Civil wars the ecclesiastics were harassed by impositions of different kinds, and many of them suffered because they would not agree to some of the things that they were commanded to do in the churches.  The incumbents of this deanery must have been all “Vicars of Bray” because under all their trials they showed such flexibility of principle that not a name appears in the catalogue of sufferers on the two opposite sides by Calamy & Walker. “The Surplice or the Gown, the Liturgy or Directory, Episcopal, Presbyterian or Congregational Government; a King or a Commonwealth or a Usurper; all the changes and all the contradictory engagements which they imposed, were deemed trifling inconveniences in comparison with the loss of “the benefice.” Although these Clergy were so easy going they did not pass by uncriticised.  Under the influence of John Wesley and other men a Society of Methodists arose who thought comparatively little of the rites and ceremonies, and traditions of the Church. About 1740 Wesley visited this district and preached in the Inghamite Chapel at Salterforth and converted many people to his way of thinking.  The Inghamite Chapel was founded by Benjamin Ingham, who was a member of the Holy Club, and the old pulpit in the Chapel still stands from which John Wesley and Lady Huntingdon have preached. The pioneers of Methodism in Earby walked, at first, to Barnoldswick or Colne to join in public worship.  Then they took a barn in Earby but owing to the cold in winter they removed to a cottage at the bottom of Stoney Bank and held services there. About 1819 and 1820 a religious revival greatly increased the membership, and in 1821 the first chapel was opened at Stoopes Hill. It consisted of the upper rooms of two cottages thrown into one. In 1840 the community had outgrown this accommodation, and so the building was gutted and the ground floor added to the chapel, and a gallery was made of the upper storey.  This sufficed for the  church’s needs until 1861 when the present chapel was built. The male members of the congregation followed the example of the parochians who helped James Carr to build the tower of Thornton Church in 1510.  They dug the foundations and drains, and performed all the heavy work in the evenings and Saturday afternoons.  The cause prospered and the men who worked in those days are still remembered. The Baptist cause is even older and has an eventful history. As in the case of the Methodists a procession of Baptists went across the hill each Sunday to worship at Barnoldswick.  In 1819, much to the sorrow and consternation of the mother church the twenty-six Earby members with a considerable following of adherents decided to form a church of their own.  In the minute book of the Barnoldswick Baptist Church there is the following entry:-“It gives us great pain that in opposition to all our advice and “in plain volition of our solemn covenant you have forcibly left us “as a church. Yet we exercise our forbearance and leave you to “the disposal of him who doth all things well.” Their first pastor followed the example of St. Paul and laboured with his hands so that he might not be a burden upon his people. William Wilkinson, handloom weaver, scholar and schoolmaster became their minister and had a salary of £10 a year. The same religious revival which added so many members to the Wesleyan Church had an even greater effect on the Baptists, and the cottages in which they worshipped became inadequate.  The agricultural hand loom weavers were very poor and they could not raise money for a new church, and so the pastor set out as a mendicant to the large towns making London his goal.  He lectured and preached and visited the wealthy laymen and wherever he went his eloquence and zeal touched the hearts of the people and opened their purses. When he reached London he made his way to the church house and chapel in Southampton Row and asked for an interview with the pastor on Sunday morning before service.  In the interview the pastor listened patiently to his story, and when asked for a collection he promised one that morning on condition that William Wilkinson conducted the service, preached and made his own appeal.  The hand loom weaver was appalled at the thought, and pleaded for other terms without success. At last he consented and mounted the pulpit steps to face the largest congregation he had ever seen.  “The spirit of the Lord came upon him” and he thrilled their hearts with his homely and persuasive oratory and the hearers responded to his appeal. The joy of the Earby Church was great when he returned and at once they decided to build.  They dug the foundations of the old Baptist Church at the foot of Gravel Pit road and did all the necessary labouring work as they did once more at Mount Zion in 1860. The chapel was opened without pews or seats and the worshippers sat on comfortless forms and bags of shavings.
The Baptist Chapel of those days and the present Baptist Chapel have always been famous for their choirs. It used to be a common event for the musicians of the Earby and other choirs to meet from twelve till two on a fine moonlight summer night or morning at Wentcliffe Nook near Pinnaw and practice the Messiah and other works in the open air. Although we have never produced either a poet or a writer in our village it has always produced many fine musicians who havebeen in great demand in the Yorkshire and Lancashire Concerts. To-day when the Messiah is given in the church it (the church) is never big enough to hold the people who wish to hear it.


THE ROADS  VIII.
The earliest highways in this district were ancient pathways or trackways, probably marked out by animals, and these paths ran from the moors to the streams. During the Roman occupation great roads were made, and these still remain.  The main Roman road in this district is the one which came from Ribchester past Burwin Castle, Elsack, on to Ilkley.  A branch of that road passed Booth Bridge and went up near Pinnaw to Keighley.
The administration of roads in England began with the Manorial Records, the duties being imposed on the Manor, the Lord of the Manor in turn throwing the duty upon the tenants.  Maintenance of the road was no more than removing the impediments which incommoded the traveller. In 1555 the Act of Philip and Mary was passed, which seriously tackled the question of roads, putting the duties of maintenance on the parish as a whole and on every inhabitant. In this Parish as in other Parishes, a highway surveyor was appointed who called upon the people to provide tools, horses and carts and give their labour. I have seen a copy of an account from an old highway surveyor showing an item charged for calling up Statute Duty and employing on a road now within the Earby Urban District. For a long time after the employment of Statute Labour the methods adopted were unsatisfactory and complaints were made against the parish for neglecting to appoint surveyors.  The parish had not a highway rate as far as we know, and the Statute labour was not done regularly. In the early part of the eighteenth century a turnpike road was made from Clitheroe to Skipton, and a Toll House was erected at Thornton Bar.   There had been an old coach road before this time, and the stage coach house still stands by the road side.  This coach road went up Cam Lane and along the top of Thornton Rock behind Gubshill to Skipton. The Turnpike Trust called upon Statute Labour or they received commutation instead.  During the eighteenth century many parishioners were proceeded against because they had failed to do their duty in helping to maintain the roads. In 1763, Thomas Waddington, of Earby a yeoman, was fined for the non repair of a portion of land for which he was liable in consequence of his being the occupier of a close of land at North Holme, Earby.   He eventually repaired the road and the fine of £20 was remitted to 6d. From 1768 to 1769 other Earby residents were similarly proceeded against. In 1792 an attempt was made to make the inhabitants of the Parish of Thornton liable for the repair of the whole road from the Township of Earby and Kelbrook, and they were indicted at Knaresboro’ Sessions, it being alleged that the road was very ruinous, too narrow, and in great decay for want of repairs. The indictment was contested, and a special plea was put in by the inhabitants, who submitted plans and showed the lengths of road for which the farmers and others were liable to repair “ratione tenurae”.  After several respites the inhabitants were acquitted in 1797. In 1824 an Act of Parliament was passed for making and maintaining a turnpike road from Colne communicating with the road leading from Clitheroe to Skipton, because parts of the then existing road were “narrow, steep and incommodious”. This Act authorised the making of a new road, the present main road from the Hare & Hounds Inn at Foulridge to Whitegate.  The land required, from Colne to Kelbrook beck, was purchased and a bridge should have been built here to carry the road access to meet the Colne to Skipton Road.  A dispute arose about the land at this point, the quarrel being whether the price paid should be for a customary or Statute acre, and as no solution was arrived at the road was deviated through the village. Toll Bars were erected, one opposite Foulridge Church and one at Thornton, and the receipts were added to the upkeep of the road. The Turnpike Trustee was appointed in a peculiar way. A public auction was held at Skipton to receive bids from persons who would occupy the toll houses and collect the tolls, and the amount bid was received by the Trustees. A copy of an account to the Turnpike Trustees from the landlord of the Black Horse Hotel, Skipton, where an auction was held in 1820, shows that £2. 2s. 7d. was spent in punch, rum, brandy, gin. etc. for the bidders.  Other accounts to the Trustees show that the road men in their employ received 2d.6d. per day in wages. Disputes on the toll charges levied were not infrequent.  One gentleman at Thornton who lived below the toll bar had to pay a toll every time he went for a ride on his horse and so he eventually had the gate in his garden altered to obviate this difficulty. At Black Lane Ends a public meeting was called of all persons not satisfied with the terms then in force and who requested alterations.  The public removed the toll bar by force, and held a festival the following day to celebrate the occasion. Generally the toll bar Charges on Sunday were double the charges made on other days, and it is recorded that on many Sundays in June, July, August and September no one passed the bar. Statute Labour was abolished by the passing of a Highway Act in 1835.The receipts of the Trust Commissioners greatly diminished after 1848 when the railway was made from Thornton to Skipton. In 1865 the East Staincliffe Highway Board was formed and the Parish of Thornton was one of the parishes in the highway district of the Board.  In this year the road Surveyors of Thornton, Harden, and Kelbrooke paid over their receipts to the new Board, their work of office having apparently ceased.In 1876 the Colne and Broughton trust was wound up and the roads came definitely under the supervision of the East Staincliffe Highways Board who levied rates to maintain the road.  The Local Government Act of 1888 transferred the burden of highways on County Councils.  The Colne and Broughton Main road ceased to be a Turnpike road, on the 1st. November, 1879.In 1894 the Local Government Act was passed and the Skipton Rural District Council was formed, and under the Thornton (Parish Awards) Order, 1894, the Parish of Thornton in Craven was divided into three wards, Thornton, Earby and Kelbrook, and took over the highway powers of the East Staincliffe Highway Board. From records of the East Staincliffe Highway Board and the Skipton Rural District Council it is ascertained that both author­ities accepted lump sum payments from persons who had liability to repair the roads ratione tenurae. On April 1st, 1900 the West Riding County Council took over the responsibility for maintenance, repair, etc. of the main road within the Urban District. In 1928 the main road which had been propounded by the Road Commissioners in 1823 was finished. A direct, straight road was made on the outskirts of Kelbrook, connecting the two parts of the main road at each side.  The bridge was designed to meet the heaviest known traffic in the district namely, a 40 ton boiler, or a 9 ton truck.  This loading is heavier than the latest Ministry of Transport standard loading, but as this is an industrial district the bridge was made to bear this weight.

EARBY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.   IX.
A history of Earby would not be complete without an account of how Earby obtained self-government in 1909.  Towards the close of the 19th century the population of Earby was almost 6,000, and so it had changed a great deal in the last century.  There were five mills and long rows of houses round these mills, but although Earby had increased in importance it was still in Thornton Parish, and Thornton was now a hamlet, the population of which was about 100.An Urban District Council was fought for with grim determination for fifteen years.  The first idea, in 1894, was to form a Urban District Council of Earby Thornton and Kelbrook, but this failed,. Although Thornton is a sparsely population hamlet it still retained a traditional feeling of superiority over Earby, a relic of medieval times when the Lord of the Manor lived at Thornton. A second attempt was made in 1900, and a third in 1907, but these failed because of differences about boundaries. On the 16th January, 1908 another application was made with a specific urban area stated.  Kelbrook fought against being joined to Earby for local self-government purposes, but in vain. The Order constituting these two places an Urban District was made and confirmed.  Subsequently the district was separated into two wards - two in Earby and one in Kelbrook.  After the election the following remark appeared in the paper - “The town for a couple of hours was all agog with the result of the contest, and expressions of lively satisfaction were to be heard on every hand, that the boasted victories attempted by the Socialists had been turned into dire and decisive defeats.  The first meeting of the new Council  has been fixed for Tuesday next week at the board room Council  School  New Road, Earby, at 7 p.m.  Alderman Horsfall yesterday signed the formal notices convening the meeting.” Since 1909 the Council has done good work. They have provided a small park containing two tennis courts and a bowling green, and in the grounds stands the Memorial to the men of Earby who fell in the Great War.       Photo of Cenotaph and Tennis Courts

LIST OF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.    X.I.  
Books Used.1.  Whitaker’s History of Craven. 2.    Chronicles and Stories of the Craven Dales. 3.         About Yorkshire. Thomas and Katharine Macquoid. 4.    Turnpike Roads of Craven. II. 
Originals Used. 1.  Minute Book of the Skipton Vestry. 2.  Thornton Award, 1825. 3.  Urban District of Skipton. Year Books. 4.  Urban District of Earby. Abstract of Accounts. 5.  Old Copies of the Craven Herald. 6.  Stories told by old inhabitants and information  received from the Clerk of Earby Urban District Council. 7.   Report made by the Charity Commissioners, 1894. 8.  Parish Register of Thornton. 



LESLIE EWART SMITH (13/09/1907 - 25/12/1999). 
Leslie Ewart Smith was born on the 13th of September 1907 in Colne, Lancashire. He was the second son of Alfred and Mary Smith, whose family line can be traced for several generations residing in the Lothersdale district. Eventually the family moved from Colne to Earby where Leslie found work as a clerk in the offices of Earby Urban District Council in the early 1920’s working under Ben Hindle. Looking to further his career in 1935 he obtained a clerks position with Farnham Urban District Council. His career progressed with further appointments as clerk with Ashburton and Crewkerne Urban District Councils. He moved back to the North in1948 to become clerk to the much larger Skipton UDC from where he retired in November 1969. In each place that he lived Leslie took an active interest in the history of that place with his writings and collections. Leslie was a life long non conformist and teetotaller having joined the United Methodist Free Church Earby, Band of Hope in  September 1914.On his death in 1999 his son Don donated his writings and collections to those in each location who would look after them for future generations. Hence Earby Historical Society received Leslie’s book “The History of Earby”. This is reproduced here with Don’s full approval. 

Transcribed from original manuscript by John Turner -2008/9 14575 words 
 

[Stanley]

Bumped. Jam packed with information if you are interested in Earby.