EAST MORTON CONSERVATION AREA
Historical development of the conservation area
East Morton is situated on the southern slopes of Rombalds Moor, c. 2 miles to the north-east of Keighley. The village stands at around 170m O.D. above sea level, on the upper, western, side of the valley formed by Morton Beck, a tributary of the River Aire. Evidence for early activity is provided by a number of artefacts found within the general vicinity of East Morton. Finds of worked flints in the form of scrapers, microliths, blades, and cores, have been found on Morton Moor and the vicinity, dating from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Rocks with Bronze Age carvings comprising cup and ring markings are also found within this area. Around 1775 a large number of Roman coins were found at Morton Banks, to the north of Riddlesden. The coins, which were in good condition, dated to the second and third centuries and were found within remnants of a container, believed to have been a brass chest.
Morton is recorded in the Domesday records of 1086, its place-name probably derived from the respective topographical and settlement elements mor and tun, meaning a moorland farmstead (Smith 1961, 172). Monastic holdings within Morton Township, from at least the 12th century, included those of Kirkstall Abbey, Drax Priory and Fountains Abbey. Wool was an important part of the economy in this period and monastic practices in Morton Township included sheep pasturing and rearing, and in the 13th century Kirkstall Abbey was granted the right to pasture sheep. Similarly in 1285 it was agreed that 3 roods of meadow 'within the enclosure of the sheep-cote' belonging to Fountains Abbey in East Morton, should be free of tithes (Faull and Moorhouse 1981, 762). The monks of this abbey also had a sheep fold in West Morton, between the village and the moor.
By 1775, according to cartographic evidence (Jefferys 1775), East Morton comprised a linear settlement with dwellings situated mainly on the western side of the Keighley-Otley route (Jefferys 1775). The location of the settlement may have been influenced by the crossing point of the Keighley-Otley and Bingley-Addingham routes, immediately to the west of the village. Formerly a small agricultural village, development was slow until the introduction of textile and paper manufacture in the very late 18th and early 19th centuries. East Morton retained its rural character despite the growth of industry and in 1838 was simply described as a large village. The whole township which comprised East Morton and West Morton contained only 1219 inhabitants by this date, East Morton being the larger of the two settlements (White 1838).
According to the tithe plan of 1845, growth by this date had encroached upon some of the open land within the core of the village, and towards Back Lane, the periphery, which once formed the boundary and access between the settlement and its open fields. New development also clustered around the junction of Green Lane End with Otley Road, and alongside Green End Road The tithe records reveal that the village comprised farms, groups of cottages and houses, some with barns and gardens, and a few shops (Tithe Plan/Award 1845). Religious institutions and schools were built in this period to meet the demands of a growing population. Chapels included Hillside Methodist Chapel, Green End Road, which opened in 1828, and Bethel Independent Chapel, Main Street, which was constructed in 1845. East Morton was one of the outlying districts of Bingley Parish and it was not until 1845 that Morton Parish was constituted. In 1847 the parish church of St Luke was built and dedicated in 1851. Schools included the National School built in 1845, which survived until the building of a new school in the 1970s, when it was subsequently demolished, the site now forming part of the village green.
The mills at East Morton were situated in the valley bottom, adjacent to Morton Beck, and in 1845 comprised worsted, paper and cotton mills. Oldside Mill, built in 1792, at Alma Hill, was believed to have been the first cotton mill, and Ousel Hole or Upper Mill, a cotton spinning mill was constructed in 1798, but destroyed by fire in 1899. Sunnydale Mill to the north of East Morton, now the site of Sunnydale Park, was a paper mill, manufacturing bank notes and stationery, and contained the largest water wheel in Britain. Built in 1833 this mill closed in 1878 and was finally demolished in 1935. The largest mill in East Morton was Botany Mill (Worsted) which closed in 1938. Manufactured goods would have been transported by canal, to the south of the village, where a warehouse and wharf of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company was conveniently situated (Tithe Award/Plan1845). To house the workers, rows of 19th-century cottages were constructed near the mill sites. Workers' housing included Providence Row near Botany Mill, Upper Mill Row adjacent to Upper Mill, built prior to 1827, and cottages (now demolished) near Sunnydale, in 1844. Alma Terrace, built by the mid-19th century was also owned by Botany Bay Mill.
Trade declined after 1890 and the village settlement pattern of this period continued into the 20th century (O.S. 1896; O.S. 1934; O.S. 1962). Despite the former industrialisation and growth, and later development, a number of farmhouses and cottages dating to the 17th and 18th centuries survive to the present day. Some of these are Grade II listed buildings and include Laurel Bank, with a datestone of 1669, situated on Main Road (13/156). Green End Road similarly contains two surviving farmhouses and cottages of this date, one farmstead with a datestone of 1664 (13/78; 13/79). The buildings are situated within the present designated Conservation Area, which incorporates the core of early settlement at East Morton, on Main Road and Green End.
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