Historic Maps and Views of Skipton

This page last updated 19 Apr 2006

NOTE:
This limited edition collection has now (2006) sold out, so is sadly no longer available.

HISTORIC MAPS AND VIEWS OF SKIPTON - The development of the town, 1720 - 2003.
A collection of sixteen A2 and A3 prints (original colours) in a presentation folder, showing the development of the town 1720 - 2003. Includes a booklet providing a commentary and historical information for each print, written by local historians Douglas Grant, Kenneth Jackson, Keith Stephenson and Susan Wrathmell.
Published by Skipton Civic Society 2003.

In October 2003 Skipton Civic Society launched a printed collection called "Historic Maps and Views of Skipton" to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The collection is sold at cost. It's well printed, and comes in an A3 folder (though some of the maps inside are larger, A2 size, folded over). Only 500 sets printed. The collection includes 16 maps, 2 recent aerial photos and a couple of views, and costs £22. Printing was done by John Mason, printers, of Skipton.

more detail:

SKIPTON in CRAVEN CIVIC SOCIETY: GOLDEN JUBILEE PROJECT

‘Historic Maps and Views of Skipton’

Skipton Civic Society has just published a set of historic maps and prints of Skipton. The maps trace the town’s development from the early eighteenth century to the present day, noting the development of road, canal and rail transport. There are sixteen maps and views, accompanied by a booklet with commentaries by local historians. Each folder contains fourteen maps and prints and two aerial photographs printed in colour and black and white at A2 and A3 size.

This has not been a profit-making venture. The project commemorates the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and twenty five copies of the folders are being given to schools and other educational establishments (the public library, Craven College, Craven Museum) in Skipton and Craven. Complimentary copies were given to representatives from several of the recipients and to contributors, those involved in the production, to Craven District Council, and the Town Council at a ceremony at Craven Museum on October 4th. A copy will be presented to Skipton’s twin town of Simbach later in the year.

The cost price is £22 per set and the remaining folders will be on sale to the public at Craven Museum and elsewhere in the town.

Susan Wrathmell of Carleton, an Historic Buildings consultant and member of the Civic Society’s Executive and Plans Committee, has searched out material which is kept in libraries, archives and museums throughout the country. It is hoped that this resource will be used by all those interested in Skipton’s development but unable to travel the distances to consult often fragile documents. Students of social and economic history, geographers and demographers will have a set of comparative maps for detailed study.

The publication booklet contains a dedication to Jim Wales, a prominent local architect and Civic Society member who supported the project with enormous enthusiasm. He died earlier this year, just as the project was nearing completion.

Further information - The changing face of Skipton.
(notes taken from the booklet)

Samuel Buck sat up on Park Hill to sketch his view of the town in about 1720. It shows the elaborate castle gatehouse, the pinnacled tower of Holy Trinity church, and the tightly packed houses on the High Street. It is still possible to climb Park Hill and follow the footpath to view the town from Buck’s vantage point.

James Crow’s coloured ‘Plan of the Honor and Lordship of Skipton in Craven’ was made for the Earl of Thanet in 1757, and is the earliest map known, showing ancient street lines and medieval tenements. The line of the canals (1816) and Otley Road (1824) were added by a later hand, indicating the length of time the map was in use.

A circa 1830 view of the town’s main street looking towards the church is contemporary with the fine map made for Henry Tufton, Earl of Thanet and John Wood’s engraved map of the town centre of 1832. Both of these are beautifully coloured and the copies show their shading and marks of use. Notable features are Sidgwick’s cotton mill north of the castle, the corn mill and Dewhurst’s mill. Cottages were being built in the yards behind the High Street frontages along with banks, schools and chapels.

Another lovely map in full colour is the 1850 Board of Health map by the Ordnance Survey records the extent of the town as improvements to housing and health were just beginning; new buildings include Christ Church (1839) and the first railway station (1847).

The O.S. 1852 map at 5" to a mile provides a detailed view of properties, and there is a contemporary view of the town from the top of Shortbank.

The next O.S. Map is 1891. A small part of the 10" to a mile plan of the town shows wonderful detail as it gives building names, the plans of garden and even the position of gas lamps and mooring rings on the canal side.

The southward expansion of industry and housing is shown on the 1893 map, the town having almost doubled in extent since 1850. Middle Town was begun in 1875, and several mills had been built along the canal, their owners living in mansions on the road to Carleton. The town’s water supply came from reservoirs on ‘Short Bank Lane’ (now road).

Further maps of 1909, 1938 and 1970 show the town’s changing character in the twentieth century: the cattle market moves from the High Street to the rear of the Town Hall, the area in turn becoming a car park. Motor transport was expanding by 1930 as buses brought visitors from the industrial cities. Congested and unhealthy housing in the centre was pulled down and the Burnside estate dates from 1921, housing schemes continuing after the war and into the ‘70s.

The final map is the Ordnance Survey 25" to 1 mile of 1979, providing a large scale plan of the town to compare with those of 1757, 1832 and 1852. Skipton’s cattle market was still close to the railway station and Dewhurst’s mill was in operation, a reminder of further changes to come in the late twentieth century.

Two aerial photographs show the town’s appearance in 2003, one a view of the core of the town and the second showing the town’s industrial estates along major roads, as the by-passes, supermarkets and a new auction mart have been built.

Susan Wrathmell

Click thumbnails to to see high resolution images

Photos by CragFace

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