Laycock is a small village in the Bradford District of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

that overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye. The village is west of the town of

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

and north of

Oakworth Oakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area. Oakworth railway station is on the route of the Keighley and W ...

village. The village is in the council ward of

Keighley West Keighley West (population 15,784 - 2001 UK census) is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 16,551. Councillors Keighley West ward is r ...

History

Laycock is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as having two Carucates of land and was originally part of the Oakworth township, before becoming part of Keighley in the 13th century. The name Laycock is the same as Lacock, which derives from the Old English meaning, stream or watercourse; Laycock village is on Laycock Beck, which feeds into North Beck a tributary of the

River Worth A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. The village is the setting for William Sharp (also known as Old Three Laps) who was jilted by his bride in 1807. He apparently took to his bed in Whorles Farm near to Laycock for the rest of his life, which ended 49 years later in 1856. One local historian said that Sharp was a victim of an age when mental illness and its treatment was not well understood. In his book ''Through Airedale from Goole to Malham'', Speight mentions that Laycock is one of the handful of locations throughout

Airedale Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley or dale of the River Aire. The valley stretches from the river's origin in Aire Head Springs, Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Skipton on ...

where the village had a

Maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...

. The rite of dancing around the Maypole was rescinded in an act put through Parliament by

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in 1644, where it was labeled as "a heathenish vanity." Laycock overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye, which is just south of the village. Goose Eye is famous for its independent brewery and pub. Like many places in this region (Bingley, Haworth for example) the two villages have a selection of cobbled (or "setted") roads. TLC buses operate a circular service from Keighley through to

Stanbury Stanbury is a village in the Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury civil parish, and in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name Stanbury translates as ''Stone Fort'' from Old English. Geography The ...

and Haworth which passes through Laycock. This runs to just four services per day Monday to Saturday with no service on Sundays. Laycock has a primary school on Laycock Lane (the main road through the village) which was rated as 'Good' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in 2014. There are just under 100 pupils at the school with an age range of 4-11. The village hall was built in 1927 and regularly hosted the Bronte Blues Club events between 2007 and 2015. The Blues club events attracted many famous names over the years such as

Andy Fairweather-Low Andrew Fairweather Low (born 2 August 1948) is a Welsh guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's R ...

, Doug MacLeod,

Hamilton Loomis Hamilton Michael Loomis (born November 1, 1975) is an American electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. One of his eight albums released to date, ''Ain't Just Temporary'', peaked at number 7 in the ''Billboard'' Top Bl ...

and Sherman Robinson.

References

{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Geography of the City of Bradford

History

See also

References