A WAR MEMORIAL found dumped in a Keighley backstreet could go on display at Cliffe Castle Museum.

Local historian Andy Wade last week officially presented the wooden memorial, originally from Temple Street Methodist Church, to the museum.

It is likely to be exhibited in the museum’s gallery dedicated to stained glass windows from historic Keighley churches, alongside the original Temple Street window.

Mr Wade and fellow members of Keighley’s Men of Worth group have researched the backgrounds of the soldiers named on the memorial.

Their investigations proved that the memorial had come from the town centre church, which is now a mosque.

Mr Wade said key pieces of evidence included Keighley News reports, and wartime editions of the Methodist Circuit Magazine that listed names of congregation members who enlisted to fight.

Mr Wade added: “We’ve identified most of the men named on the war memorial and have newspaper pictures of at least half a dozen of them.”

Mr Wade paid tribute to Keighley Police, whose lost property enabled him to legally claim the memorial after it was presented to the Men of Worth by its finder, then subsequently hand ownership to the museum.

The plaque was found next to a wheelie bin in Chelsea Street, Keighley, bypass-by Adrian Rodsett, and is believed to have been dumped following a nearby house clearance.