LOCAL history volunteers at Skipton library have been busy during lockdown, transcribing and digitising documents that reveal the town’s rich history.

Jane Lunnon and Steve Wilton have been transcribing the hand-written notebooks of the late Skipton historian Dr Geoffrey Rowley, who lived from 1921 to 1987.

The handbooks contain the history of nearly every building in Skipton’s High Street, Swadford Street and Newmarket Street, much of which was serialised in the Craven Herald in the 1960s.

Jane and Steve have completed the first volume, which has been digitised and is on the Rowley Collection website at: rowleycollection.co.uk

As well as the notebooks, the online archive includes the Rowley Ellwood collection of more than 700 historic photos of Skipton and Craven that Dr Rowley and historian Ken Ellwood collected together.

They include historical events, such as coronations and floods, and photographs of buildings before they were demolished as part o f ‘slum clearances’.

Jane said: “Dr Rowley’s handwriting is not easy to decipher, and the notes are very idiosyncratic, but they contain all kinds of facts and insights into the buildings and the people who lived in them too. I’ve really enjoyed reading them and finding out more about the history of the town.”

Steve added: “I’m pleased to be part of this project that means Dr Rowley’s notes and the history of Skipton can be accessed by people all over the world, and not just in Skipton library. We’ve already started transcribing the other three volumes, and those will on the website soon.”

Jane and Steve have also been selecting passages from the notebooks and preparing a series of social media posts for Skipton library’s Facebook page every Thursday.

Followers will be able to find out about old Skiptonians like ‘Ranting Nanny’, landlord of the Brick Inn Benjamin Smith, and Dr Fisher’s house on Swadford Street.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Greg White, executive member for libraries, said: “It’s great to see our dedicated library volunteers keeping busy during lockdown to highlight local history and I would like to thank them for doing such a wonderful job. I think that transcripts of Dr Rowley’s notebooks are fascinating and bring another dimension to the Rowley Ellwood collection website.

“While I hope many people will engage in the Facebook posts and the notebooks, both Skipton library and the County Record Office offer a wealth of historical material that is available online at any time. Library members can still access both Ancestry and ‘Find My Past’ from home using their library card and PIN to assist family history investigations, as well as other reference and research material.”

Dr Rowley was born in Skipton and attended Ermysted’s Grammar School. He became a partner in the High Street law firm of Charlesworth, Woods and Brown, eventually becoming a senior partner.

Through his interest in local history he gathered an invaluable collection of material. He wrote many articles for the Craven Herald, and published three books, Old Skipton, Tom Lee - the Grassington Murderer and The Book of Skipton.

After his death, his widow, Valentine, donated all his notes and research to Skipton Library and Information Centre and has continued adding to the collection, which is a momentous achievement and provides a fascinating and unique account of the buildings, institutions and people of Skipton.

Ken Ellwood, who died in 2015, came to Skipton in 1953 as a school dental officer. In 1960, he went into practice with Brian Hargreaves, in Sheep Street, and worked there until his retirement in 1986.

He was in the RAF from 1942 to 1946, and after the war he got his private pilot’s licence and a long-standing interest in photography progressed to taking aerial photographs. After he and Dr Rowley became neighbours, a close association developed through their shared interest in Skipton’s history and they worked together to collect the photographs in the Rowley Collection. Ken compiled six books about Skipton and the surrounding area.