Sowerby Bridge library

Brief description

The site adjoined the municipal offices and was owned by the Council. The architect was the county surveyor: C. L. Whitehead. Originally there was a lending library, ladies’ reading room, reading room, and reference section. The reading room was probably at the front of the building as this was top lit, and the lending library was probably at the rear. It had wood block floors. The total cost was £2,869.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Calderdale council (2020)

• Year grant given (if known): 1902
• Amount of grant: £2,500
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 14 October 1905

Photo of library in 2017:

This is how I saw the library (see note below). Look forward to updating this photo when it has reopened!

Photo © Dr Neil Clifton (cc-by-sa/2.0) 2007

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Yes, in 2017, but as it was closed for refurbishment, I’ve only seen the outside – shrouded in scaffolding.

Web links:

• Sowerby Bridge – a brief history (brief mention of the library)
• News article: 100 years of the borrowers (2005) written to promote plans for centenary celebrations
• News article: Investing in Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd libraries – confirming Sowerby Bridge library was due to reopen on 8 January 2018

Heckmondwike library

Brief description

A large, two-storied stone building with ornate gable-ends. The Clerk of Heckmondwike Urban District Council applied to Carnegie for a grant in 1902 and was offered £2,500 (Carnegie gave a further £38 in 1908). The grant was on condition that a private individual donated the land. The architect was Henry Stead, a local man, and the site was given by Sir Thomas Firth (of Firth’s Carpets), who also gave £100 for books. The building had tiled dados, oak furniture and hot water heating. The newsroom was on the ground floor and the lending library, reference section and workroom were on the first. Part of the ground floor was used as a rates office. Although modernised inside many of the old features remain.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Kirklees council (2017)

• Year grant given (if known): 1902
• Amount of grant: £2,538
• Year opened : 25 January 1911 – confirmed by an article in the Cleckheaton Guardian of 27 January 1911 [although material from the local history library states that the reading rooms were opened in February 1901]

Photo of library in 2009:

Photo credit: Betty Longbottom and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet, but there are 2 old photos of the library on the Kirklees images site

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• Brief mention on the web page: Buildings in Cleckheaton – Spen Valley (although it describes it as “our 1909 building”)

Batley library

Brief description

Designed by local architects Walter Hanstock & Son. The central round arched window has panel below with carved embossed words CARNEGIE LIBRARY. The library opened with a staff of 5.

Awarded Grade II listing in 1984.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Kirklees Council (2016)

• Year grant given (if known): 1903
• Amount of grant: £6,000 in 1903 and a further £988 for the clock tower
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 19 October 1907

Photo of library today (2011):

Photo credit: flickr user Tim Green, shared under CC licence

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• Entry on the listed buildings register
• The Early History of Batley Carnegie Library – Providing World Book Day for Thousands of Days and Multiple Generations

Almondbury library

Brief description

The foundation stone was laid by Alderman JA Brooke JP on 8 July 1905. The building was designed by borough architect Kenneth Findlater Campbell.

Current status: Still open as a public library. Currently run by Kirklees council, but plans are underway to relocate library services. Future of this building unknown. (2018)

• Year grant given (if known):
• Amount of grant: £1,500
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 1906

Photo of library today (2008):

© Copyright Humphrey Bolton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Not yet

Web and other links :

• Almondbury: “A splendid little library” [A commemorative brochure
  celebrating Almondbury library] written by Rob Greenwood in
  association with Friends of Almondbury Library and Kirklees Library &
  Information Service, 2009. (reviewed in this issue of the Library and Information History newsletter)
• Friends of Almondbury library
• News article: Almondbury library to move (2018)

Burley library

Brief description

Situated on Cardigan Road, this library was built in 1926. The library cost £8,338 to build, a large amount of this came from the Carnegie Trust. It is a simlar design to the libraries in Bramley and Compton Road.

The architect was Gilbert Burdett Howcroft, and the building was designed in the Neo-Georgian style. Note on the architect: Gilbert Burdett Howcroft was a lieutenant in the First World War and colonel in the Second World War, and designed the Grade II war memorial obelisk on the top of Alderman’s Hill, Saddleworth. He was later President of the Manchester Society of Architects in 1953-5.

Current status: Closed February 2016

Awarded Grade II listing in 2017

• Year grant given (if known):
• Amount of grant: c£8,000
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 15 June 1926, by Alderman Sir Percy Jackson, Chairman of the West Riding Education Committee.

Photo of library in 2007:

RichTea [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• Entry on the listed buildings register
• Images of the interior and exterior of Burley library, on the Leeds photo archive
• Mentioned on the Shelf Life project website as being a building ‘at risk’ (2020).

Compton Road library

Brief description

The cost of this library was met by a grant from the Carnegie Trust. Built of brick with stone trim, the library is of similar layout to Bramley and Burley branches which were also built at this time. An adult lending area in the centre, children’s library to one side and a reading room on the other with glazed screens between the different areas.

Current status: Much was demolished, but what remains is part of the much bigger Compton Centre – which contains a library run by Leeds City Council (2016)

• Year grant given (if known):
• Amount of grant: £11,332
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 16 March 1927.

Photo of library today (2008):

Betty Longbottom [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• Photograph on the Leeds city archives
• Blog post for #LibrariesWeek 2020: Compton Road, Crossgates and Garforth Libraries

Bramley library

Brief description

The cost of the library was defrayed by the Carnegie UK Trust.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Leeds City Council (2020)

• Year grant given (if known): 1916
• Amount of grant: £4,700
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 7 July 1927 by The Right Honourable The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, C. M. G., Chairman of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees

Photo of library today (2011):

Photo credit: Leeds libraries

Details:

Plaque commemorating the opening. Photo credit Leodis – a photographic archive of Leeds (and thanks to @Leedslibraries for sharing it in a tweet)

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• Photo of the plaque which commemorates the opening ceremony – in the Leeds photo archive
• News: Library moves out as work starts on new Bramley community hub (2017)
• Blog post for #LibrariesWeek 2020: Armley, Beeston and Bramley Libraries

Morley library

Brief description

Foundation stone was laid on 28th September 1905 by the Mayor, Councillor William Middlebrook. The architect was WE Putman.

Awarded Grade II listing in 1986

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Leeds council (2017). There are plans to refurbish and make the library into a hub – bringing in the council contact point. This will have the benefit of opening up an area that had been partitioned off for offices.

• Year grant given (if known): 1903
• Amount of grant: £6,170
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 27 October 1906 by Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine Esq. (a Manx politician and author )

Photo of library today (2017):

Details:

Plaque in the tiled entrance hall, recording Carnegie’s donation. The entrance also contains a mosaic in the floor, of the town coat of arms, which also appears in stained glass upstairs.

Recording the foundation stone laying ceremony.

Some of the beautiful art nouveau tiles which line the library downstairs, and up the stairwell.

Old photos of library (postcards):

Visited?

Yes, in September 2017.

Web links:

• Entry on the listed buildings register
• Morley library – old photos and new, and information
• Photograph of the opening ceremony – in the Leeds photographic archive

Horbury library

Brief description

Mr Benjamin Watson of Batley was appointed the architect in 1904. On 4th January 1905 the foundation stone was laid by Councillor A Horsfield, who returned the following year to officially open the library.

The first Librarian was James Kirkpatrick.  King George V and Queen Mary visited on 10 July 1912.

A tapestry depicting life through the ages in Horbury was created to mark the library centenary, and in 2013 the library was refurbished with new  furniture, lighting, blinds and carpets.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Wakefield council (2016)

• Year grant given (if known):
• Amount of grant: £2,000
• Year opened (and by who – if known): 14 February 1906, by Cllr A Horsfield.

Photo of library today (2010):

Photo credit: Flickr user Tim Green (cc licence)

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Nothing in my collection yet

Visited?

Not yet

Web links:

• History of the library
• Photo in the Francis Frith collection
• The library has a reading garden – created to celebrate the National Year of Reading

Castleford library

Brief description

Initial plans were made in 1902. The architect was Mr George H Vernon Cale, and his designs were approved in October 1903.

The library was expanded between 1928-33, and again in 1955-56. The most recent refurbishment (which took place after I visited), was in 2013. The new Library and Museum, renamed Castleford Forum was opened on the 9th December 2013 by Leader of Wakefield Council and local Castleford Councillor Peter Box.

Current status: Still open as a public library, run by Wakefield Council (2021)

• Year grant given: 1902
• Amount of grant: Originally promised £2,500, but this rose to £3,000
• Year opened (and by who): 30 November 1905 by Sir John Austin, MP

Photo of library in 2011:

Details:

Old photo of library (postcard):

Visited?

Yes, in 2011.

Web links:

• History of the library
• Case study from the architects who did the 2013 remodelling (I confess that picture leaves me no closer to imagining what it is like!)
• Information about the museum