Cross Hills

Cross Hills
Cross Hills
	Street in Cross Hills
	Cross Hills Location within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference	SE013449
Civil parish	Glusburn and Cross Hills;
Unitary authority	North Yorkshire ;
Ceremonial county	North Yorkshire ;
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber ;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KEIGHLEY
Postcode district	BD20
Dialling code	01535
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Skipton & Ripon ;
	List of places UK England Yorkshire 53°54′07″N1°59′17″W / 53.90194°N 1.98806°W

Last updated December 02, 2024

Cross Hills is a village in the former Craven District of North Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Skipton and Keighley. The village is at the centre of a built-up area that includes the adjoining settlements of Glusburn, Kildwick, Eastburn and Sutton-in-Craven. Cross Hills is the newer part of the civil parish now called Glusburn and Cross Hills, historically known as Glusburn.

Geography

Cross Hills is in Airedale at a point where the River Aire bends east from its north–south course. The village lies on the south bank of the river just above the flood plain, which is wholly agricultural. As its name implies, Cross Hills is surrounded by the hills of the eastern Pennines including Steeton Moor (south-east), Cowling Moor (south-west), White Hill (north-west) and Kildwick Moor (north-east). There are views along the Aire Valley itself to the north and east. Rombalds Moor, between Silsden and Ilkley, is about six miles east of Cross Hills. Skipton is about four miles north and the hills of the Yorkshire Dales can be seen beyond it.

Immediately south-west of Cross Hills is Glusburn. Due north, on the other side of the River Aire is Kildwick. Sutton-in-Craven is less than a mile to the south-west and Eastburn less than a mile to the south-east. Cross Hills is separated from Sutton-in-Craven and Eastburn by the beck which flows into the Aire just east of Cross Hills. The beck is known by various names: Surgill Beck, Holme Beck and Eastburn Beck. It forms part of the county boundary between North and West Yorkshire as it approaches the Aire, Eastburn being in West Yorkshire.

Cross Hills is split by the Airedale Line of the former Midland Railway. The biggest part is south of the railway and is largely residential with most of the shops and restaurants on or near Main Street (the A6068). North of the railway, former farmland has been given over to light industry and commerce but with some residential property on Station Road which connects the A6068 and the A629.

History

The village originated as an outgrowth of the much older Glusburn (which is mentioned in the Domesday Book).

Cross Hills is overlooked by two monuments known as The Pinnacles, which take the form of small towers, standing on Earl Crag above Cowling Moor:

Wainman's Pinnacle or Sutton's Spare Pinnacle, is an obelisk built reportedly by a local man named Richard or William Wainman, some time between 1816 and 1830. There are varying accounts of the date and reasons for its construction: one anecdote claims that it was a memorial to Wainman's son, who had been killed during the Napoleonic Wars, while another account suggests that it commemorates the Allied victory at the Battle of Waterloo (1815).
Lund's Tower, or Sutton Pinnacle was built in 1896 by James Lund of Malsis Hall, to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee; it is square with an internal staircase and topped by a crenelated parapet.

The Pinnacles are known colloquially as the "Salt Pot" and "Pepper Pot"; both stand in the parish of Sutton.

Transport

The village is close to the main A629, connecting Keighley and Skipton. The A6068 trans-Pennine route from Colne forms the village's Main Street and joins the A629 at the large roundabout between Cross Hills and nearby Kildwick. The A6068 forms Colne Road through Glusburn and becomes Main Street at the junction with Wheatlands Lane. It joins Park Road, which climbs due west out of the village and provides routes to Cononley and Lothersdale.

There are regular bus services between Keighley, Skipton, Burnley and Colne that serve the village.

The local Kildwick and Crosshills railway station, opened in 1847, was closed in 1965. It was just off Station Road where the humpback bridge crosses the railway. The nearest station is now Steeton and Silsden, two miles to the east.

Amenities

The village has a large health centre on Holme Lane and is only a mile or so from the Airedale NHS Trust hospital at Steeton with Eastburn in West Yorkshire. There is a public library and a police station. South Craven School, a secondary and sixth form college, is located in Cross Hills off Holme Lane, which is the road from Cross Hills to Sutton-in-Craven. The local primary schools are in Sutton-in-Craven, Glusburn and Kildwick.

Cross Hills has no Church of England parish church of its own and is part of the parish of St Andrew's Church across the Aire in Kildwick. Cross Hills contains St Peter's Methodist Church, St Joseph's Catholic Church and South Craven Evangelical Church.^[1]

Cross Hills Football Club plays in the Craven and District Football League and Glusburn Cricket Club is also located in the area.^[2]^[3] The Cross Hills tennis and bowling club has three tennis courts and one bowling green.

Commerce

Cross Hills was the original home of chocolatier Whitakers, now based in Skipton, which was established in 1889. Ida Whitaker began making chocolates in 1903, taught by the wife of the vicar of Kildwick.^[4]^[5]

Notable people

The Yorkshire and England cricketer Herbert Sutcliffe died in a Cross Hills nursing home on 22 January 1978, aged 83.^[6]

J. Arthur Dixon (1897–1958), founder of the eponymous manufacturer of greetings cards and postcards, was born at Cross Hills.

Related Research Articles

Airedale is a valley, or dale, in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is named after the River Aire, which flows through it. The upper valley, from Malham Cove to Airton, is known as Malhamdale, named after the village of Malham. At Airton the valley widens and becomes Airedale proper. The river flows past Skipton on to Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, and Leeds.

Craven was a non-metropolitan district in the west of North Yorkshire, centred on the market town of Skipton. The name Craven is much older than the modern district and encompassed a larger area. This history is also reflected in the way the term is still commonly used, such as by the Church of England.

The Airedale line is one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area centred on West Yorkshire in northern England. The service is operated by Northern, on the route connecting Leeds and Bradford with Skipton. Some services along the line continue to Morecambe or Carlisle. The route covered by the service was historically part of the Midland Railway.

Kildwick, or Kildwick-in-Craven, is a village and civil parish of the district of Craven in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Skipton and Keighley and had a population of 191 in 2001, rising slightly to 194 at the 2011 census. Kildwick is a landmark as where the major road from Keighley to Skipton crosses the River Aire. The village's amenities include a primary school, church and public house.

Cononley is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cononley is in the Aire Valley 3 miles (5 km) south of Skipton and with an estimated population of 1,080, measured at 1,172 at the 2011 census. It is situated 0.9 miles (1.5 km) west of the A629 road with access to Skipton, Keighley. Also joined to the Leeds-Carlisle railway, the village has commuter access to Leeds and Bradford.

Steeton and Silsden railway station serves the village of Steeton and the town of Silsden in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated closer to Steeton than to Silsden, and is on the Airedale Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Northern.

Skipton was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after Skipton, which constituted an urban district on its southern border.

Sutton-in-Craven is a village, electoral ward and a civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England that is situated in the Aire Valley between Skipton and Keighley. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2001 the population was 3,480, increasing to 3,714 at the Census 2011. The village is adjacent to Glusburn and Cross Hills, but although these three effectively form a small town, Sutton village maintains its distinct identity.

Glusburn is a village and electoral ward in Craven in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village is situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, sits on the A6068 Kildwick to Hapton road, and is conjoined to the village of Sutton-in-Craven at the south.

The A629 road is an intra-Yorkshire road that runs from Skipton to Rotherham through Keighley, Halifax, Huddersfield and Chapeltown in Yorkshire, England. The road runs through North, West and South Yorkshire, but before 1974, the entire length of the road was wholly within the boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is designated as a primary route through most of its length.

Cowling is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, bordering West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Kildwick and Crosshills [sic] was a railway station off Station Road in Cross Hills, North Yorkshire, England. It served the villages of Cross Hills, Cowling, Glusburn, Kildwick and Sutton-in-Craven.

Utley is a village that forms a suburb of the town of Keighley within the county of West Yorkshire, England, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the town centre.

Aire Gap is a pass through the Pennines in England formed by geologic faults and carved out by glaciers. The term is used to describe a geological division, a travel route, or a location that is an entry into the Aire river valley.

Steeton is a village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding, it is 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Skipton, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Keighley and just south of the A629 road. The village is part of Steeton with Eastburn civil parish.

The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was a road built in 1753 by a turnpike trust between Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Kendal in Westmorland, England. The primary instigators were in Settle. The road followed a modified ancient route through Craven. It necessitated bridge widening, reorientation in some of the towns it passed and the relocation of inns and stables. The road was of great benefit to commerce in the northwest but proved a financial loss as the cost of repairing wear caused by heavy traffic was underestimated. The trust's records were lost when it closed.

The Worth Valley is a geographic area in West Yorkshire, England, that extends eastwards from Crow Hill and Oxenhope Moor, providing drainage for the River Worth for nearly 10 miles (16 km) to the River Aire. It is a side valley to Airedale, with the River Worth being a major tributary of the River Aire. The Worth Valley was important for its contribution to the textiles industry of the West Riding of Yorkshire and was furnished with several reservoirs to allow mills to operate within the valley. Most of the reservoirs are still in use into the modern day.

Kildwick Bridge is a road bridge over the River Aire in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the oldest documented bridges in England, with a reference dating back to 1305. It was the main route through Yorkshire to and from Skipton, later becoming part of the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike. A newer road bridge and bypass opened just upstream from the current bridge in 1988, however Kildwick bridge is still open to vehicular traffic gaining access to Kildwick village. The bridge is both a scheduled monument and a grade I listed structure.

References

↑ South Craven Evangelical Church site.
↑ Cross Hills Football Club site
↑ "Glusburn and Crosshills Parish Profile 2012" (PDF). cravendc.gov.uk. 2012. p. 5. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
↑ "About Us". Whitakerschocolates.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
↑ "Monday Interview: "We are a niche within a niche," says third generation chocolatier". TheBusinessDesk.com. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
↑ CricketArchive – profile of Herbert Sutcliffe. Retrieved on 9 October 2009.

External links

Glusburn and Cross Hills website

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[1] South Craven Evangelical Church site.

[2] Cross Hills Football Club site

[3] "Glusburn and Crosshills Parish Profile 2012" (PDF). cravendc.gov.uk. 2012. p. 5. Retrieved 6 August 2018.

[4] "About Us". Whitakerschocolates.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2014.

[5] "Monday Interview: "We are a niche within a niche," says third generation chocolatier". TheBusinessDesk.com. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2023.

[6] CricketArchive – profile of Herbert Sutcliffe. Retrieved on 9 October 2009.

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