DESCRIBED as “one of the most palatial residences in Craven”, Sutton Hall was built in the 1890s for John William Hartley, the bachelor owner of Greenroyd Mills.

On his death in 1909, he was said to own “practically all the houses in Sutton, and also the larger part of the farms on the hillside near the village”.

But Sutton Hall – which was never completely furnished – had only a short life. When in 1933 it came up for auction it was bought by Keighley builder and contractor Ernest Turner, who gave six-and-a-half acres of woodland to Sutton Parish Council and developed the rest of the estate.

This took the form of what Mr Turner called “a kind of garden city – the first and the finest in this neighbourhood”, a project which involved the eventual demolition of the hall itself.