I'm going to take the liberty of burdening you with this short saga. I'm doing this because it's taken from an old book which belonged to the Timothy Earnshaw I mentioned who was caretaker at Wesley
Place. He was a member of the Eboracum Lodge of Oddfellows, which basically was a sick club run by staunch upright townsmen. The book celebrates 100
years, 1823-1923.
This short passage is entitled 'A Bit of Old Keighley', and seeing as there is reference to the Masons Arms and Cabbage Mill, perhaps it would be a good thing for you to have around. It contains info which you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else - certainly I've never come across the likes of it.
So says my friend Allan Smith - who I must thank for this marvellous piece of information from what appears to be a rare book.
"Where the Wellington Inn stood in 1826 the memory of man knoweth not. The site now covered by the imposing Wellington premises was formerly occupied
by the Masons Arms Inn, which fronted the main street with a gable into Hanover Street, and farm land at the back running on to what is now Cavendish Street. At the rear of the Inn were a brewhouse, stables etc., and a large herd in which stone and other building materials were stored. The yard was entered from the Main street, two large gates occupying the ground on which the shop of Barwick & Haggas, Jewellers now stands at present. The man who obtained the licence to the Masons' Arms Inn was Jeremiah Fowlds, the tenant in the early years of the 19th century. At that time there were no resident justices in Keighley, and Mr. Fowlds had to attend before Mr. Matthew Wilson at Gargrave to obtain the necessary authority. According to
Mr. Hodgson, an earlier tenant of the premises had been an ancestor of "Old Three Laps". Jeremiah Fowlds, who was born in 1776, remained in occupation at the inn till he died in 1820. His widow, Sally Fowlds, was next tenant, and continued as landlady for many years. In 1849 or 1850, the owner pulled down the old inn, and built on the vacated site the present imposing Wellington Hotel for a favourite butler who aspired to compete with the DevonshireHotel. But the enterprise was wholly unsuccessful. Keighley was not big enough for two such hotels, and the new venture lasted little more than ayear . This estate in the very heart of Keighley had been the property of Lt. General Twiss of Myrtle Grove, Bingley, the father-in-law of Walker Ferrand Esq., M.P., of Harden Grange, but in 1822 it was acquired by Mr. John Greenwood, the son of the famous John Greenwood, one of the earliest Cotton
Spinners in Keighley, who built the first mill at North Brook, and afterwards Cabbage Mills and Vale Mills.
The first John Greenwood died in 1807, and the second John who was residing at 'The Knowle', Keighley, died there in 1846. The latter left his real estate in Keighley, Bingley, Bradford and other places to his son Frederick Greenwood, and it was this gentleman who erected the Wellington Hotel. After the hotel scheme failed he had the premises on his hands for a time, and then in 1856, he sold the estate to Mr. Thomas Wall, the great grandfather of Mr. Harry Wall, Solicitor, Keighley, and a member of Eboracum. The property continues to be owned by the Wall family.The pr esent Masons Arms Inn, Long Croft, was erected on land bought from the
Greenwoods by Mr. William Fowlds, father of our well known townsman, Mr. Hiram Fowlds. It was one of the first houses built through the Keighley and Craven Building Society. Incidentally it may be mentioned that in 1850, as now, there was a great shortage of houses in Keighley".