Driver’s Gravestone, Guiseley Churchyard. Source; W Sutherland, findagrave.com

It started with a newspaper cutting from the Leeds Intelligencer,  24 October 1780, found by local historian, Barbara Winfield just after Christmas 2012, on the British Library Digitised Newspaper Archive website – the first indication that Kelcliffe might have originally been a tannery for the local area.  Remembering that Guiseley would have been a good walk down Kelcliffe Lane to Town Gate at that time: and, that tanneries were sited away from villages because of the dreadful smell.

An advertisement in the paper said that on the 16th November 1780 a freehold messuage (dwelling, and barns) at Kelcliffe, with tan house, tan yard, and drying houses, with 45 Continue reading →