Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale
Sub-district of Burley in Wharfedale, bounded roughly by Aireville Terrace, west of Station Road, West View Road, Main Street & Sun Lane.
Currently know little of the early history of Hill Top. Its name is intriguing as it's only marginally higher than the rest of the village centre & no higher than the original centre of the village around St Mary's Parish Church.
Hill Top Farm, Burley in Wharfedale
We believe the premises of Jake Wright Landrovers & the adjoining ones that were A. Guzdek garage services, south of Main Street, on Victoria Road, are the former buildings of Hill Top farm.
The farm buildings are marked on the 1851 map & was bought by Thomas Emsley sometime between 1850 & 1860. When Thomas Emsley bought The Grange (Burley Grange) in 1860, he had the Mechanics Institute that overlooked his house, demolished. The Mechanics Institute housed the Township School, this was relocated by Thomas Emsley onto his lands at Hill Top. in 1886 when Thomas Emsley died the Hill Top farmhouse & lands were sold by the executors of his will.
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Research is ongoing to discover who bought the property & how the site was developed between 1886 & the present day.
If you have information, photos & /or documents that could help us piece together the history of Hill Top & its environs, please get in touch via the contact form.
If you have information, photos & /or documents that could help us piece together the history of Hill Top & its environs, please get in touch via the contact form.
Township Day School, Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale
The building was erected in 1862 to replace the old Mechanics’ Institute and Day School at the bottom of Station Road. The new building remained in use as an Infants’ School until 1922. It also functioned as the meeting place of the Burley Local Board of Health and its successor the Burley Urban District Council until 1905. Later it was the practice room for the Burley & District Brass Band. Then it served as a Craft and Design Centre for Teachers in the West Riding and the Bradford Authorities. As of now (2020) its a private residence.
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1 Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale
Thomas Skirrow Plumbers - 1 Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale. The OS Map is from 1906.
Arthur I. Skirrow married Edna D. Crawshaw in 1937. Arthur died in 1941 aged 37. I don't believe they had any children. Trade directories show Thomas trading there as a Plumber & Glazier from 1904 to 1936. Thomas died in 1926 so presumably his son Arthur kept trading in his father's name. Info & images courtesy of Sally Gunton. |
Photo above shows Thomas & his wife Esther Annie & son Arthur.
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The Google streetview of 2008 shows the shop was converted into a garage.
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Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale
Home of the Burley in Wharfedale Social Club, locally known as the "Rifle Club". Or to give its original title the "Burley in Wharfedale Miniature Rifle & Social Club"
The Burley Archive are looking for info & images to compile a history of the club from its inception in 1913 to the present day. If you can help please get in touch via the contact form.
Victoria Road, Hill Top, off Main Street, Burley in Wharfedale
Victoria Road Dairy - site of Guzdek's
Owned & run by Harry & Peggy Pearson in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The milk bottle is in the collection of objects of the Burley Archive & was donated by Ann Nuttall.
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A. S. Guzdek - Hill Top Garage, Victoria Road, Burley in Wharfedale.
MOTs, Servicing, Tyres, Exhausts & Caravan Storage. Owner retired & the whole site is now housing, 2018. Previously Victoria Road Dairy. |
Research has thrown up an earlier user of the farm buildings of Hill Top - Jim Illingworth Motors Ltd, Motor Engineers. In the 1948 telephone directory his business is listed at Hill Top & his home at Howgill, Southfield Road, Burley in Wharfedale.
He patented a new type of tractor tread as per this article in the Yorkshire Post on 6th Jan 1950. (This "new" tread was actually a variation of earlier designs by James Boydell (d1860), Bramah Joseph Diplock & Frank Bottrill). |
A. S. Guzdek formerly occupied the site that is now Jake Wright Landrovers.
Gallery Images taken early 1960s at Hill Top Garage, Burley in Wharfedale. Images courtesy of John Wright.
Gallery Images taken early 1960s at Hill Top Garage, Burley in Wharfedale. Images courtesy of John Wright.
Jake Wright Landrover, Hill Top Works, Victoria Road, Burley in Wharfedale
Burley Community Library & Burley Archive, Grange Road, Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire England LS29 7HD
Please refer to the Home page for up-to-date opening times. Closed Wednesday & Sunday
Burley Archive & Local History Group: Drop-In Sessions Friday 2.30pm to 4.30pm. For other times please contact us
Burley Archive & Local History Group: Drop-In Sessions Friday 2.30pm to 4.30pm. For other times please contact us