A closer look at Skipton's 'yards' - and when life expectancy in the town was just 35 years old

A HEALTH inspector's report of 1857 on the living conditions of the people living in Skipton made dire reading. Even taking into account the sanitary standards of 150 years ago, they were far from pleasant. Springs Canal was described as an 'open sewer' while a family of ten lived in just one room in Brown's Yard, off the High Street,where 10 houses shared just one 'privy'. Life expectation was put at under 35 years old.

50 years ago, in 1968, in one of his several articles for the Craven Herald, Dr Geoffrey Rowley wrote a history of Skipton's many 'yards' - the town centre cottages which started to develop in the 18th Century.

Dr Rowley was a Skipton man who was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School before going on to study law at Leeds University. He joined the High Street firm of Charlesworth, Woods and Brown, eventually becoming a senior partner, until he was forced to retire in 1978 due to ill health. He had a great interest in local history and gathered an invaluable collection of material, including many photographs, which are now saved in the Rowley Elwood Collection at Skipton Library, after being donated to the library by his wife when he died in 1987.

Back in 1968, Dr Rowley wrote that almost all of Skipton's residential yards had disappeared.

The rows of cottages had started to develop in the 18th Century, he wrote.

"The inns and business premises already had their barns, stables and outbuildings in their rear yards, and there was pressure for more housing in the town, first because industry had begun to grow, and also because the Skipton Castle Estate would not sell any land for the building of homes.

"The early cottages were all in yards which were privately owned, and not until the industrial revolution really made its impact felt, at the end of the century, were Skiptonians prepared to build cottages on Castle land which would revert to the Earl of Thanet - the then owner of the castle - in 40 or 60 years time."

Kendall's Yard was one of the earliest to be developed, with cottages being built there in around 1720. A buildings 'conveyance' of the inn in 1731 described it as: 'one malt kiln and malt chambers now converted into several dwellings' and by 1757, there were four cottages, with five rooms above them, all in Kendall's Yard.

Birtwhistle's Yard was built at the rear of the Birtwhistle's house in Caroline Square, at the bottom of the High Street. Mr R B Cragg, in 1898, wrote that: "One Watkinson came from Halton East to teach school in Skipton. He took a cottage in Birtwhistle's Yard and many yet remember him. Before he came to Skipton, he had taught a school in Halton, and over the school, he had a sign: 'Watkinson's Academy, What man hath done, Man may do, Also dealer in groceries'.

Mr Watkinson issued a circular to the residents of Skipton, announcing the opening of his school, and adding: 'For learning of manners, 2d extra'.

Queen's Court appeared as early as 1830, and like Caroline Square owed its name to the popular sympathies at the time, in favour of the Queen. Known as Laycock's Yard by 1858, the houses vanished to be replaced by Woolworths - and now the Yorkshire Trading Company.

Cook's Yard, at the back of Sheep Street, was named after the Cook family of nailers.

Roger's Yard - Roger Smith, a currier, bought 26-30 Sheep Street in 1773 and lived there until 1822. It was originally known as Smith's Yard, up until 1841; but seeing as three of the yards on the other side of the High Street were also to become 'Smith's Yard', it was necessary to give it a different name. As Roger was well known in the town at the time, his Christian name was used and Roger's Yard became its name, and was included as such in the 1950 version of the Ordnance Survey Map.

Spencer's Yard - in about 1790, the old Swire freehold on Sheep Street Hill was sold to William Spencer, a raff merchant of Sutton Mill.

Stirk's Yard - in 1806 John Stirk, a stonemason, occupied a house and stable at the rear of Thomas Chamberlain's property in Sheep Street. Queen Victoria married in 1840 and shortly afterwards Spencer's Yard and Stirk's Yard became Albert Street and Victoria Street, but the original names, particularly Spencer's Yard, stuck.

Bay Horse Yard - The King's Arms Inn and the adjoining Bay Horse Inn were at one time a single tenement, and until the demolition, in the 1950s, of the access to the Bay Horse Yard was through the passage under the Kings Arms Inn.

Hardcastle's Yard was owned by Joseph Hardcastle, then by his son, George Barow Hardcastle. The inspector's report in 1857 recorded that it 'contains a slaughterhouse, the refuse is thrown into an open pit, by the canal.'

Mount Pleasant - The area towards the top of the High Street was home to 16 cottages in1865.

Dr Rowley said in his article of 1968 that three factors led to the decline of the yards. After 1850, the Castle Estate became more willing to sell freehold land for the building of new homes, or to grant 99 year leases - which opened the town up to the industrial revolution.

The cottages in the yards were also woefully overcrowded and insanitary. In his report of 1857, the health inspector made a shocking indictment of housing standards of the time. He wrote: "In the dwellings of the poor, ventilation is bad; the windows are not made to open. At Mount Pleasant, courts on the west side of High Street, and Quaker's Place, they have no means at present of getting fresh air into the sleeping rooms".

Of 1,103 houses in the town in 1857, 835 had a rateable value of under £5; the Spring Canal was 'little better than an open sewer'; and in Brown's Yard 10 houses shared one privy; a family of 10 slept in one room - including a husband and wife and eight children, ranging from 21 to five years old. Expectation of life was under 35 years.'

Finally, the owners of the High Street shops began to extend their businesses and in 1907, the Craven Herald reported: 'Trades are fast encroaching on the yards off High Street. In several instances, the small cottages which have been closed as human habitation are now used for storage or warehouse purposes in connection with the High Street."

To find out more about the Rowley Ellwood Collection of photographs, visit the website:rowleycollection.co.uk