Three visits have taken place this summer.

Wednesday 10th June - Copper Dragon Brewery, Snaygill Industrial Estate, Keighley Road.
Members enjoyed an evening visit and were fortunate to have Kevin Griffiths, the Skipton Town Crier, as our guide. The Brewery has the most impressive and innovative modern plant and is spotlessly clean. We were taken through the whole brewing process from the purchasing of barley and other ingredients to the casking of the beer. The owners have looked carefully at the history of brewing and have sought wherever possible to include traditional equipment and methods in the brewing process. The evening was concluded in the spacious bistro bar with the opportunity to sample the output! 

Wednesday 24th June - Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Road, Eccleshill, Bradford. 
Members visited the Museum as a day trip.The Museum was opened in 1974 to preserve Bradford's industrial heritage. Its collections within the spinning and weaving galleries reflect Bradford's importance to the worsted tectile industry. we also saw the fime collections of printing machinery, locally built Jowett cars plus the only surviving tramcar and trolleybus. Of particular interest was the furnished mill managwer's residence and a rebuilt row of back to back houses showing how mill workers lived through the decades.

Wednesday 15th July - Guided walk round Ilkley. The 2 hour walk led by Alex Cockshott could only cover a fraction of the history of Ilkley. She showed us the position of the 4 gates of the Roman fort which are marked by plaques. The fort is considerably larger than conveyed by first impressions. She said that the Roman name "Olicana" is now being questioned, it may have applied to the fort at Elslack some 10 miles to the west. A portion of the western wall survives and the western end of the Manor House is built on top of it. Further still to the west a dip in the road marks the vallum.

Following the Roman occupation Ilkley became an insignificant settlement, even at 1850 its population was no more than 1500. This was partly because the Middleton's as Lords of the Manor refused to allow textile mills to be built. The town took off in Victorian times firstly as a Spa town with the creation of Hydropathic establishments. Then with the coming of the railway in 1864 it grew as a commuter centre for Leeds and Bradford. Interestingly when William Middleton sold off land for building, he specified that land to the south of the railway (rising towards the Moor) should be reserved for villas for the wealthier classes while that to the north should provide terrace housing for artisans. The distinction is still clear. He also specified that building should be of stone or Tadcaster brick - he had interests in both supplies!
The Ilkley Civic Society organises a programme of walks during the summer. There are also numerous interesting books on the history. This year celebrates the 150th year since Charles Darwin spent the autumn in Ilkley during the time that "The Origins of Species" was published.