The first mention we have of Keighley is in the Domesday Book compiled for William the Conqueror in 1086. There the name of the settlement is spelled Chichelei, which means Cyhha's clearing. (Cyhha is an Anglo-Saxon personal name).
In 1086 there were about 720 acres of cultivated land in Keighley. Presumably there would also be woodland, and rough grazing for sheep on the adjacent hilltops. The first church in the town was built in the 13th century. This is not the church which stands in the centre of town today. The medieval church was demolished in 1805 to be replaced by a structure more suitable for the then current fashion for long sermons. This building was demolished a few decades later and replaced by the present medieval style building.
Keighley has always benefited commercially from its strategic position in the Aire valley. In 1305 Edward I granted the right to hold a weekly market in the town to the lord of the manor, Henry Keighley. This was held every Wednesday on Church Green until 1833. The site was marked by a market cross, which was taken down last century. The cross moved to the grounds of Whinburn, the home of local millionaire Prince Smith.
In 1948 the market cross was re-erected near the original site. The lantern finial and shaft are part of the original cross.
The first map of Keighley was produced in 1612 and shows a small town with houses clustered along Low Street and to the west of the church. However, little remains of 17th-century Keighley, with the possible exemption of the Lord Rodney public house which may have had its origins in that period.
The town grew quickly with the development of the textile industry and in 1780 became the home of Yorkshire's first cotton spinning mill (Low Mill). The 1880s saw the development of the worsted industry along with iron foundries to supply machinery to the new factories.
In the early 1820s Keighley got its first gasworks, one of the earliest places in West Yorkshire to do so. This produced coal gas as opposed to the North Sea Gas which we use today. In many parts of the county the gas holders which were used to store the gas have been swept away. The present gas holder on the site is therefore a rare survival from another age. Like the imposing office block it probably dates from the end of the 19th century, and both the building and the gas holder have been listed as being worthy of protection.
The West Yorkshire Archaeology Service
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