Keighley

When mentioned in the Domesday Book, a survey of England completed in 1086, Cichhelai was little more than a tiny agricultural settlement but by 1305, when it was granted a charter to hold a weekly market, Keighley had grown into a town with more than a hundred residents.

By the end of the eighteenth century the town had become a rest-stop at the crossroads of several historic turnpikes; stagecoach routes between cities in the counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria and over the following century had established itself as a prosperous industrial town manufacturing both textiles and the looms and sewing machines with which they were produced.

Although Keighley's golden era of industrial prosperity has largely been consigned to history, the town's location, where the Aire and Worth rivers meet amid the scenic dales of Yorkshire's West Riding region, naturally lends itself to tourism. A handsome town with an abundance of Victorian architecture and numerous attractions, Keighley is a delightful destination that rewards exploration, but it is also a comfortable base from which to discover Brontë Country; the wild and dramatically beautiful moors, and the dark-stone mill towns and cobbled villages within them, that inspired literary sisters Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë when writing classic stories such as Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Jane Eyre.

A National Trust property, East Riddlesden Hall, on the outskirts of Keighley, is an immaculately-preserved manor house built in 1642; the home of another wealthy textile merchant. The house has a comfortable and homely atmosphere, featuring period décor, furnishings and artefacts to recreate rooms as they would have been at the height of Keighley's industrial prosperity. The grounds and gardens, complete with lake, have also been lovingly restored and maintained, providing a tranquil and scenic spot for a picnic.

Located near Ingrow station, the first stop after Keighley on the Worth Valley Railway, this remarkable 'living' museum showcases the work of the Vintage Carriages Trust; a group of volunteers dedicated to the preservation of historic wooden-bodied train carriages and features beautifully restored examples of rolling stock built from 1876 onwards.