East Riddlesden Hall: The charming 17th-century manor house that is Bradford's only National Trust property
This is the only National Trust property in the Bradford metropolitan district and one of only two such houses in West Yorkshire, the other being Nostell Priory near Wakefield.
A charming 17th-century manor house set on a small plateau above the River Aire near Keighley, the hall has intimate formal gardens and three acres of fields and woodland.
The present house dates from 1642, the year England plunged into civil war.
A dwelling is believed to have stood on the site since the 7th century, as evinced by sections of Saxon cross now on display, but the earliest records relate to the Norman period when the de Montalt family constructed a house.
By the 15th century their medieval hall was still there, part of a working farm run at different times by the Paslew and Rishworth families.
In 1638, a wealthy Halifax wool and cloth merchant, James Murgatroyd, bought the Airedale estate of 2,000 acres for £6,000 (£6m today) and used part of the earlier hall to create today’s manor.
The centrepiece is the Great Hall, built as a temporary block to link the old and new halls during reconstruction but never demolished.
Murgatroyd died before his plans for East Riddlesden Hall were completed.
A succession of new owners followed until the hall fell into disrepair and part of one wing was demolished.
The façade can still be seen.
In the 1930s, the rest of the house was under threat but was saved by a mayor of Keighley, William Brigg, and his brother, who donated it to the National Trust.