Burley in Wharfedale, Burley Woodhead, Stead & Burley Moor

The Burley Archive - preserving the past for the future. Courtesy of the Burley Local History & Archive Group.
​
​It contains a unique collection of artefacts of the history of Burley District.
​We're always on the look out for more to add to the collection. If you have anything Burley related please get in touch via the contact form.

• Aerial Photographs of Burley District ​- 1937, 1948, 1954, c1960s, ​1964, 1965, 1977, c1980, 1995, 2003 & 2006. 
• Maps from the 19th and 20th Century of Burley in Wharfedale, Burley Woodhead & Stead.
  1847 Burley Township Tithe Map
• Burley Archive Maps - Images of OS Maps from the National Library of Scotland  of Burley in Wharfedale, Burley Woodhead and Stead from the years 1851, 1895, 1909, 1934 & 1983. Also Burley Parish Boundary administration map.
  

• Photographs - people, places, events etc. 
  Copies of Form School Photos from Burley Middle & Oaks,, Burley & Woodhead and schools on Aireville Terrace.
  We're always on the lookout for more photographs, especially from the last 30 years. Can you help?
• Digital files: Burley Archive Folders to be found on the Portable Hard Drive in the Burley Archive room.
• Physical content of the Burley Archive room - Burley Archive Inventory
• ​Awards & Cups from bygone days.
  Ceremonial Spade for digging holes for trees.
  Do you have any Burley District related objects that we can photograph?

• Trade Directories for 19th and 20th centuries
• Salem Congregational Chapel (Salem United Reform Church) - Baptisms, Burials & Marriages 1858-1937. Also Memorial Inscriptions document listing all the graves in Salem graveyard in Grange Park, created shortly before Ilkley UDC cleared & landscaped the site in 1973.
• St Mary's Parish Church records - Baptisms 1774 to 1978; Burials 1843 to 1976; Marriages 1856 to 1910.
• Burley in Wharfedale & Burley Woodhead searchable census data 1841 to 1911
• Mill Records: 19th & 20th centuries
• Burley Township Records: 18th & 19th centuries
• Burley Local Board of Health & Urban District Council Papers 1854 – 1937
• Records of Local Schools: including extracts from Log books. These log books were written by the head teachers, they don't contain pupil records. (Pupil records are confidential and are held by West Yorkshire Archive Service at Wakefield).
• Records of many Past and Present Village Organisations
• Local Newspaper Cuttings
• Index & Obituaries of those local individuals who lost their lives in World War One.

Duke of Wellington's Regiment shoulder flash. Image & object courtesy of Mark Laycock

Mark Laycock - "Found this while washing wellies in stream separating A65 and Sun Lane, Burley in Wharfedale. Duke of Wellington’s shoulder flash." - 31st March 2024
​

Horsfall Terrace, Burley in Wharfedale c1926 by John Arundell. Image courtesy of John Kelley

Tour de France Eiffel Tower, Burley in Wharfedale 2014. Image courtesy of www.walkingphotographer.co.uk

Burley District

Burley Moor (Update Jun 2023)

​Burley Woodhead ​(Update Jan 2023) Mary Chorley nee Kimber (1865-1936) (Update Feb 2025)  Harry Sutton Chorley (1869-1939) (Update Aug 2021) Burley Woodhead Mills (Jun 2023) (Draft)

Burley in Wharfedale (Update Jan 2021) Burley in Wharfedale Conservation Area (Update Jul 2020) Burley Grange  or The Grange (Update Feb 2022) Cathedine or The Court Children's Home (Jun 2021) Colston House (Jun 2021) The Lawn (Jan 2021) Scalebor Park - Hospital & Housing (Update May 2024) ​​ 1947 Road Safety Film - with scenes from Burley in Wharfedale (Jan 2021) Souvenir of Burley-in-Wharfedale - 12 views of Burley District (Dec 2023) Burley in Wharfedale History Trail (Dec 2022)

Stead ​The Mount, Stead - a brief history from the 18th century to the present day. ​Its been several private residences, 2 hotels, a mental asylum, 2 private schools and now a retirement village. (Update May 2020)

Greenholme, Burley in Wharfedale "Green Holme" from fields to the textile manufacturing centre of Greenholme Mills​ (Update Dec 2024) Partners & Directors Greenholme Mills 1790-1968 (Update Oct 2024)

Burley District People & Families: (Update Apr 2024) ​People: Thomas Emsley (1816-1885) ​(Update Mar 2025) - Thomas Emsley 1880 Last Will & Testament ​(May 2021) John Shepherd (1816-1902) (Apr 2021) ​William 'Billy' Swain (1827-1910) (Update Oct 2021) Arthur Newsome (1860-1934) (Update Aug 2021) Robert Peel (1891-1965) (July 2020) James Knights Trench OBE (1893-1969) (Nov 2022) Walter Flesher (1894-1984) (Dec 2022) Richard Burton's Castles Collection (Update Apr 2022) Families: Fison Family (May 2023) (Draft) William Rayner (1844-1911) (June 2020) Preston Family Burley in Wharfedale (Sep 2020) Forster & Arnold-Forster Families (Sep 2020) - Florence Vere O'Brien (Arnold-Forster)(1854-1936)​ ​(Sep 2020)

Burley District Past Events - social, artistic, sporting etc. (Update Apr 2025) - History of Burley Brass Bands - 1840s to early 1960s. (Update Jan 2021) - Burley in Wharfedale Football a history up to 1940 (Update Oct 2024) - History of Burley District Cricket (Update Apr 2024) - Burley Lions Amateur Rugby League Football Club (2008-2013?) (Update Oct 2023)

Burley District Shops & Business Premises those that have been & gone and those that remain. (Update Sep 2024) Main Street (east) - from Burley House to Station Road (Update Mar 2023) - Corn Mill Lane, Burley in Wharfedale (Sep 2020) ​- Fred Midgley Butchers ​- Main Street, Burley in Wharfedale (Update Jan 2019) ​ Main Street (west) from Station Road to Leatherbank (Update Sep 2021)  - Peel Place (Update May 2023) - North Parade (Update Jul 2021)  - Hill Top, Burley in Wharfedale (Update Oct 2023) - Burley in Wharfedale Social Club aka the Rifle Club (Update Oct 2023) - Sun Lane, Burley in Wharfedale (Aug 2022) ​ Station Road (Update Feb 2024) ​- History of the Victoria Cafe aka the Cheshire Cat (Mar 2020)  ​ Greenholme Mills Textiles 1790-1968(Update Oct 2021) Greenholme Mills Industrial Estate 1968-2018 (Update April 2022) ​ Bradford Road (Update Jan 2021)

History of Burley District Public Transport (Update Aug 2024) - Harrogate Road Car Company (Update Sep 2020) ​Burley in Wharfedale Railway Station ​(Update Feb 2024)

Burley District Schools (Update Aug 2022) Burley Woodhead School (1832-1976) (Jan 2023) ​- Schools on Aireville Terrace (1898-1999): Burley National (1898-1950), Burley CofE Primary (1950-1972) ​and Burley CofE First (1972-1999) (Aug 2021)

Miscellany for all those things that don't fit any where else.
​The first item asked for the location of a photograph by John Kirby Smith (1869-1953) from c1900s.
​The second item asks how long does it take to build a railway line?
If you have any information on any of these puzzles, please contact us.

In Living Memory - a recent history of Burley.
​Contributions very welcome!
Have you any photos, histories of events, people, places etc. that we can use? Please contact us via the webmaster.

Any images used are captioned with what it shows & the copyright holder, ​plus an active link to a website, if the contributor has one.

---

In 2019 all rights to Margaret & Dennis Warwick's complete collection of books, articles, photos etc., were gifted to the Burley Local History & Archive Group (BLH&AG)(Burley Archive) in perpetuity.
 
If you would like to use anything of their works or anything in the Burley Archive, any content from the web pages etc. Please seek permission via the contact form.

1937 aerial photo of Burley in Wharfedale. Image courtesy of Burley Archive.

Publications Available On Loan in Library

There are publications which contain useful information on the history of Burley District.
​These are available for loan from both Burley Community Library and Ilkley Library:

• Burley Community Council, Village Design Statement, 1999
• Burley Parish Council, The Burley Handbook 2008, 2015, 2024
• Two Thousand Miles in Wharfedale by Edmund Bogg, John Heywood, London, 1904
• ​A Short History of the Parish Church of St Mary The Blessed Virgin, Burley-in-Wharfedale by F. W. M. Newbould 1993
• Life of the Rt. Hon. W.E. Forster by T. Wemyss Reid, 2 Volumes, 4th Edition, Chapman and Hall, London, 1888. 
  Reprinted in 1970 by Adams and Dart, Bath
• Upper Wharfedale by H. Speight, Elliot Stock, 1900​

• Discovering the Yorkshire Dales by John Ward, Smith Settle, Otley, 1996
• Burley–in–Wharfedale in Times Past by M. & D. Warwick, eds., Countryside Publications, 1985
• ​​Greenholme Mills Remembered by M. Warwick, Burley Local History Group, 1988
• Eminent Victorians, The Forsters of Burley–in–Wharfedale by M. & D. Warwick, 1994.
• ​Burley: A Millennium Book by M. & D. Warwick, Burley Local History Group, 1999
• ​​Burley–in–Wharfedale Then & Now by J. Howson, M. & D. Warwick, 2008

---

Burley Local History & Archive Group Publications For Sale

If you wish to purchase any of the following please get in touch with us via the contact form to make the arrangements.

• ​Our Schools: A History of Schools in Burley–in–Wharfedale by M. & D. Warwick, Burley Local History Group, 1998​
  ​Price £5.00

• Independent Burley: A Village, its People and its Councils by ​M. & D. Warwick, 2006. Price £10.00

• Greenholme Mills Remembered Again by M. & D. Warwick (In memory of Margaret Warwick who died in May 2010) 2010. ​Price £5.00

Burley in Wharfedale History Trail 

NEW Full Colour Booklet available. £5.00 per copy from Burley Community Library, Grange Road, Burley in Wharfedale.

Burley History Trail 2024. Image courtesy of Burley Archive

• We Will Remember Them - In Glorious Memory of the Burley Boys by Rachel O'Connor, 2018.
  ​Price £10.00 (plus post & packing if required) with all proceeds to the Poppy Appeal.

Other Publications & Research Papers in Burley Archive

A journey through time - Denis Williams diary
Local History of Burley in Wharfedale - Denis Williams 
Burley in Wharfedale Press cuttings - Denis Williams

​Burley Organisations & Schools
Burley & Menston Labour Party Minutes 1972-1981 
Burley East End Allotment Society share register and subscription book 1917-1955
Burley East End Allotment Society minutes book 1916-1925 
Burley in Wharfedale by F.W. Newbould
Burley in Wharfedale Probus Club account book 1977-1989
Burley Infants School 1880-1949
Burley National & C of E Primary School 1942-1972
Burley National School 1897-1942
Burley National School log book 1861-1898
Burley Show - Salem garden party 1990
Burley Woodhead school 1853-1970; 1919-1953; 1976.
Burley Bowling Club accounts 1945-1971; Minutes 1948-1980. 
llkley USC Labour Party Minutes 1971-1974 & 1988-1993
Rombalds Labour Party 1982-1989
Grange Club: Members names and addresses; minutes 1905-1919 and from 1935 to its closure in 1993; Visitors 1915-1967 & 1976-1992.
​Scalebor Hospital minutes 1897-1913.
​Manor Park improvements (Burley in Wharfedale)
​The Wharfedale Union 1871-1900 - Jane Matthews 
Photographs of "The Lawn" 1956-59 by Ted Petrowski  donated by Louie Piotrowski (born Sarah Louise Duffy)​ in 2004
​​Historical Memorials of Burley by the Wharfe
Greenholme Cotton Mill cash book 1816-1850. Written by Jonas Whitaker.
​Yorkshire Cotton 1780-1835 George Ingle
​Life of the Rt. Hon W. E. Forster
​Things New and Old - H. O. Arnold-Forster
Bradford Archives 1974-1995 Illustrated Guide - West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Broad Acres - Alfred J. Brown. 1948  
Encyclopaedia of Needlework - Thérèse de Dillmont. 1886 
Gardening for Finance or Fancy - Fred Marshall. (Of Burley in Wharfedale).

​A Hundred Poems - William Watson 
​The Poems of William Watson Volumes 1 to 3
​Selection of poems - Matthew Arnold 1912
​Poets of the English Language - edited by W.H. Auden - Vols 2 and 4.
​Verbeia or Wharfedale a poem 1782. Probably by Thomas Maude.
​Poems - Rupert Brooke. 1915
1914 and other Poems - Rupert Brooke. 1919

British Parliamentary papers, census reports, parish registers and enumeration 1801 two volumes.
​History, gazetteer and directory East and North Riding 1840
History, gazetteer and directory West Riding of Yorkshire Vol 1 1837 and Vol 2 1838.
​Sources for English Local History - W. B. Stephens. 1973
How to Read a Village - Richard Muir. 2007 
Village Records by John West. 1962
Introduction to Archives - F. G. Emmison
​
On Foot Through Wharfedale - Fred Cobley. 1882 
A Thousand Miles in Wharfedale - Edmund Bogg. ​1892 
Life and Tradition in the Yorkshire Dales - Marie Hartley & Joan Ingilby. 1968 (rp1981) 
Local History in England by (Prof.) W. G. Hoskins 1959 
Burley by H. Speight (Extract from Lower Wharfedale - H. Speight).
Lower Wharfedale - H. Speight
Upper Wharfedale - H. Speight
Otley Museum - a guide to the Documents Collection.
A guide to Medieval Otley - Paul Wood ​
Parish and People of the Yorkshire Dales Through Ten Centuries - Susan Brooks. 1973
Recollections from a Yorkshire Dale - C.J.F. Atkinson. 1935 
Fawkes family and their estates in Wharfedale from 1819-1936.
The Historian at Work - V. H. Galbraith
​Geology and scenery of the countryside round Leeds and Bradford - H. C. Versey.

Wharfedale Family History Group CDs: 
1.  Salem Baptisms 1858-1927 & 1945-1950; Marriages 1858- 1925; Burley 1858-1935; Membership roll 1858-1880.
2.  St Mary’s Burley within the church 1843-1976 and Gods Acre.
3.  St Mary's Baptisms 1774-1978.
4.  St Mary's Marriages 1856-1910.
(These have been copied onto the Burley Local History & Archive Group's computer system for ease of access).

Wharfedale OS Plan 1895
White's Directory & Gazetteer of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield & the whole of the clothing districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 1853 rp 1969. ​
Yorkshire Rivers - The Wharfe - Tom Bradley
​3D EXPO A magic journey to Victorian England
​Aspects of Leeds - Lynne Stevenson Tate 
Bacon's Excelsior Map of Yorkshire.
​Documents on British Economic and Social History 1750-1870 - Peter Lane.
Documents on British Economic and Social History 1870-1939 - Peter Lane.  
Church of England - Book of Common Prayer. Post 1872.
St Mary's Parish Church - The Communion and Other Services. 1841.​

---

For website links to other sources of information on the history of Burley in Wharfedale, Burley Woodhead, Scalebor Park, Greenholme, Stead ​& Burley Moor
​- see Online Services - Family & Local History Resources

Burley Community Library & Burley Archive, Grange Road, Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire England LS29 7HD

Opening Times: Monday, Tuesday and Friday 10.00am to 5.00pm, Thursday 2.00pm to 7.00pm, Saturday 10.00am to 1.00pm. Closed Wednesday & Sunday
Burley Local History & Archive Group: Drop-In Sessions Friday 2.30pm to 4.30pm. For other times please contact us​

---

SITE MAP