Keighley Mechanics Institute & School of Science and Art

The Keighley Mechanics' Institute and its Library was founded in 1825 by John Farish, John Haigh, William Dixon and John Bradley with the intention to form “A society for mutual instruction and establishing a library for the same”. The Institute’s purpose-built premises were opened in 1853 on North Street and Bow Street, Keighley; the first Institute of its kind in the north of England, its library numbering more than 800 volumes. Here its members lectured on their special interests: the Rev Theodore Dury on zoology, John Bradley on the steam engine, David Dewhirst on the properties of bodies, Mr Adams’ Lectures On Acoustics, as well as a talk by Rev Patrick Brontë, whose daughters, it is claimed, used the ever-expanding library on many occasions. By the 1860s, the Institute was outgrowing its premises and it was decided to build a new grand institute at the junction of North Street and Cavendish Street funded by public subscriptions. The Institute’s new building, opened by the Duke of Devonshire on September 30 1870, housed classrooms, studios, committee rooms, a library, an exhibition gallery and a large Municipal Hall that hosted events, meetings, concerts, and theatrical productions. From 1871 the building was also home to the School of Science and Art, and Keighley Trade and Grammar School. In 1881 the Keighley School of Art opened; an evolution from the Institute’s School of Science and Art. By 1889, under principal, Tom Butterfield, it had become Keighley School of Art and Crafts. In 1881, the Institute’s honorary secretary, Swire Smith, an English woollen manufacturer, educationalist, Liberal Party politician was appointed as a member of the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction. The building caught fire on 4th March 1962 following a Saturday-night dance in the Municipal Hall. The ruins were left standing until 1967 when they were demolished and Keighley Technical College – the renamed Keighley School of Art and Crafts - built in its place. This was followed by a second building on the opposite side of Lord Street, joined by a corridor footbridge. The building later became known simply as Keighley College. In 2007 it merged with Park Lane College Leeds and then later became part of Leeds City College. In September 2010 the college moved to a new £35 million purpose-built campus opened near to Keighley railway station. The college’s 1960s buildings were put up for sale in 2012, but no buyer was found. In 2017 it, and the remains of Keighley Boys’ Grammar School, were demolished, leaving a public grassed area. Around 1900 Keighley Trade and Grammar School became Keighley Boys' Grammar School, still making use of the Institute’s buildings. In April 1964 the school moved to a purpose built site in Oakbank, Keighley and was briefly named Keighley School before reopening in 1968 a Oakbank Grammar School, which, despite it’s name, was a co-educational school comprehensive. Over intervening years it has transformed from foundation to academy status and is now called Beckfoot Oakbank, a mixed secondary school and sixth form.