JUDGING by the riotous vegetation and the extravagance of the building, this was Cliffe Castle not long after its presentation to the borough of Keighley in 1949 by Sir Bracewell Smith, who had started his career as a local pupil-teacher before making his mark in the hotel and property market and serving as Lord Mayor of London.

For a decade the Cliffe Castle grounds were open to the public, but the house did not emerge as a museum and art gallery until 1959.

The elaborate Cliffe Castle seen here, begun as a home for Henry Isaac Butterfield in 1875 and eight years in the building, was deemed “a good specimen of the Elizabethan castellated style of architecture”. The solidity of its turrets and pinnacles is deceptive, however, for it was riddled with dry rot.

Keighley councillors debated its fate at length, even threatening it with demolition. Sir Bracewell Smith contributed another £100,000 towards its reconstruction and maintenance, but by the time Cliffe Castle opened to the public it had of necessity been pruned of many of its original features.