Ilkley is a spa town located on banks of the River Wharfe and the north edge of Ilkley Moor, which is famous as the setting of the song “On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at”, a folk song sung in the Yorkshire dialect (the title means “On Ilkley Moor without a hat”) that is sometimes described as the unofficial Yorkshire anthem. The area has been continuously inhabited since at least 3000BC, with Neolithic rock sculptures found on the moor, and the remains of a Roman Fort – possibly named Olicana – located near the town centre and the town is named in the Domesday Book. It expanded during the nineteenth century when it became a Victorian spa town and saw famous visitors including Charles Darwin and Madame Tussaud. Today, the town is a popular tourist destination, and often used by walkers as a base from which to explore Ilkley Moor and the rest of the surrounding countryside of Wharfedale.
Ilkley Railway Station opened in 1865 as the western terminus of the Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway and is notable as the last British railway station to be lit by gas (until 1988); the original station building survives and is Grade II-listed. From the station, take a short detour to the left to see Ilkley Library and the adjacent Town Hall and King’s Hall and Winter Garden theatre, a complex of buildings dating from 1908 (with the Winter Garden added in 1914); the library was paid for by the Carnegie fund. Otherwise, turn right and follow Station Road to Christchurch (a Grade II-listed church built in 1868), then turn left along Riddings Road. Take the next left turn along an unnamed private road and at the end continue straight ahead through Mill Ghyll, crossing a footbridge over a stream named Billy Well’s Spout to reach Wells Promenade. Cross this and continue straight ahead along Chantry Drive, passing Chapel House on the right, which is marked by a blue plaque.
Turn left down Wells Road, then right along Whitton Croft Road, passing Ilkley Toy Museum on the right. At the end of the road, turn left along Chantry Close to return to Station Road, then immediately turn right and follow Cowpasture Road, eventually reaching a small roundabout. Turn right along a track (Craiglands Road) and at the end pass through a gate and follow a footpath uphill onto Ilkley Moor, shortly reaching Ilkley Tarn. Turn left and then left again, following a signed footpath to the Cow and Calf Rocks.
Stay on the path as it climbs gently along the edge of the moor, soon crossing a footbridge over Stanza Stone Beck. On the other side, continue straight ahead, and when the gravel path bends sharply left, bear right along a narrow path below a ridge of rocks, eventually reaching the Cow and Calf. Locally famous, these are also known as Hangingstone Rocks and are an outcrop and a boulder, both formed from gritstone.
The Cow and Calf
Follow the path between them, then turn right and follow a path uphill until it ends at another path. Turn left, then right at the next junction, then right again along the next path. At a crossroads, turn left, then take the next two left turns, now following the Dales Way and shortly passing the Haystack Rock.
Continue straight ahead, then turn right at a fork. At the next junction turn left, shortly crossing Backstone Beck. On the other side, continue to follow the Dales Way below Ilkely Crags. The path eventually bends right and runs downhill to White Wells. This is a spa bath dating from c.1700; a single plunge pool survives and is still used to welcome in the New Year; the building also houses a café. Turn right past the entrance to this, then turn left and follow an occasionally-stepped path (the Dales Way Link) downhill, eventually leaving the moor and reaching Wells Road. Cross this and bear left to enter Darwin Gardens, and after crossing a bridge over Billy’s Well Spout turn right and walk downhill, passing through a gate to reach College Drive.
Turn left and follow College Drive until Wells House appears on the left. This dates from 1854-1856 and was built as a hydropathic establishment and it was later used as a hotel and a college before being converted into flats. Turn right opposite this and follow a path downhill to Queen’s Road. Turn left, passing the Church of St. Margaret on the left (another Grade II-listed church, dating from 1878-1879), then bear right along Princess Road. Turn right and follow a path downhill to Parish Ghyll Drive. Turn left, then right along Oakburn Road and follow this until it ends at St. James Road. Turn right and follow this to Bolton Bridge Road. Turn left, then continue straight ahead to enter the Memorial Gardens, bearing left to leave these on Kings Road.
Turn right and follow Kings Road, shortly passing Ilkley Baptist Church on the right, then follow the road left. Just before the Grade II-listed Heathcote (a Neoclassical-style villa completed in 1908) appears on the left, turn right and follow Easby Drive to Skipton Road. Cross this, then continue straight ahead along Stourton Road, and just after passing Riverside Walk, turn right to gain a path alongside the River Wharfe. Continue along this, shortly reaching the Old Bridge, and stay on the riverside path as it turns along the edge of Ilkley Park. When the path reaches New Brook Street Bridge, bear right and climb steps to the road, then turn right. Turn right again, then left past the site of the Olicana Roman Fort to reach Ilkley Manor House.
Turn left to reach the entrance to the Manor House. This Grade I-listed building dates from at least the sixteenth century and houses a museum containing local archaeological artefacts, including Roman material from the fort.
Ilkley Manor House
Turn right and follow Castle Yard, passing the Parish Church of All Saints on the left. This is a Grade II*-listed and has parts dating from the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although it was largely rebuilt in the nineteenth. Follow Castle Yard through an archway to reach Church Street, then turn left. Turn right along Cunliffe Road, passing the Masonic Hall on the left, then left along West Street. Follow this past a car park to reach Brook Street, then turn right, and finally turn left to return to the railway station.
Ilkley brings our tour of the City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough to an end, but there is still much more of the history West Riding of Yorkshire to explore. And so we head back to Bradford, from there to Leeds, and then through Wakefield all the way back down the county to Barnsley, where we set out once more on the Penistone line to begin our exploration of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees…
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