PROMINENT on the right of this sedate view up Devonshire Street a century or so ago stands the impressive Devonshire Street Congregational Chapel, built in 1856 with seating for 1,036. Its Sunday School, opened in 1877 in nearby Spencer Street, soon had more than 500 children on its registers.

Such places of worship also played an important role in the social and recreational life of the town. Activities here included a Band of Hope, a Young Men’s Reading Club, a Young Women’s Friendly Club, a Sick Society, a cricket club and a library of 1,700 volumes.

The building itself looked set to last for centuries, but by 1955 there were concerns that the upper part of its frontage was leaning. Keighley Fire Brigade – which practised routine Sunday morning turntable drills on local high buildings – obligingly used their 107-foot escape ladder to facilitate a survey.

“The building is about 100 years old,” reported the examining architect, “and age and altered traffic conditions have caused some movement.”

Although the chapel was not considered dangerous at that time, it was nonetheless demolished in 1964.

The photograph has been supplied by Mr Derek Newiss, of Highfield Road, Keighley.