A very early Keighley photograph lurks behind this heavily re-touched old postcard view along North Street.

The Mechanics’ Institute of 1870 has yet to be built, together with the present townscape beyond. The far building near the centre was Sandywood House. This had been a cotton mill in the early 19th century, later becoming a boarding school for young ladies, then the home of the Sandywood Bowling Club, with a bowling green around the back, on the site of the former mill dam.

The prominent building in the right foreground, next door to the County Court, was the original Keighley Mechanics’ Institute of 1834, a pioneering educational initiative offering its members classes, lectures and the use of the library and scientific apparatus. The stone globe above its entrance symbolised knowledge. Demolished in 1970, older readers may remember these premises in their later role as Yorkshire Penny Bank. The photograph has been supplied by Mr Kevin Seaton, of Shann Lane, Keighley.