A Short History of Ilkley
Ilkley, the Olicana of Ptolemy and Ylcanley of
Saxon time. For over four thousand years this area has been
populated over and over again by various tribes. each leaving
their mark. None more so than the Victorians and the present
crew! Rombalds Moor, of which Ilkley Moor is but a small part,
covers an area from Hawkesworth in the East to Skipton in the
West, with the Dales of Wharfe and Aire being North and South
respectively. The Town, on the other hand, has been in existance
as we see it today only a comparatively short time. In the year
1800, it was nothing more than a mucky little hole with a beck
running through it. A popu-lation of about three hundred (give or
take the odd dying wretch), and not much else, save a cold spring
high on the Moor. A few years earlier, the then Squire of
Myddleton, built what was to become the Foundation Stones of
Modern Ilkley, The Spaw Baths known today as White Wells.
The taking of the 'spring' water which brought about such change
to this part of Wharfedale and it's effects on the local
countryside, must have been astronomical. More so than the
proposed by-pass which the town desparately needs if it isn't to
become grid locked even on the quietest of days. Imagine spending
all your life in a thatched cottage by a babbling brook, then in
the next instance, some bod called Hamer Stansfield, form a place
he calls Headingley near Leeds, reckons he's going to put
Wheatley and Ilkley on the map! Ten to one you've never heard of
Headingley, let alone seen a map.
This is exactly what Hamer and his mates did. One might say they
turned "Water into Wine" or, as they say in Yorkshire,
"Water into Brass". Large Hydropathic establishments
grew from the virgin earth, such was the demand for this
remark-able substance. There then followed the rest of the
attendant services and crew. Also, about this time a railway
wandered into the valley. The first of many mill owners,
industrialists and their families moved to the countryside for
fresh air without fumes. I wonder what they would make of present
day Ilkley? Not only had Ilkley become a fashionable watering
hole, it was now a commuter town. The rest as they say is
history.