* Click here for latest Calverley news.

* Click here for latest planning applications in Calverley.

* Click here for latest sport in Calverley.

EARLY CALVERLEY

The first inhabitants
With one exception the passage of time has obscured all traces of the earliest inhabitants of the Calverley region. The exception is a cup marked rock in Calverley Woods. Archaeologists believe that this type of rock art was created during the late Neolithic (New Stone Age) or the early Bronze Age (approximately 3000 to 1900 BC), though no one can say for certain what the designs represent. Some of the examples found on Ilkley Moor have quite complicated patterns of hollows ('cups'), some of which have several rings around them. In contrast the Calverley example is quite simple having only three cups with partial rings.

Early settlement
Like some many places in West Yorkshire the first mention of Calverley occurs in the great Domesday Survey compiled for William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is derived from two Old English words meaning clearing with calves. Old English was the language spoken by the incoming Anglo-Saxons in the 7th century AD, which suggests that Calverley might have first emerged as a settlement at that time. The ley element, meaning clearing, is common to many settlements along the Aire valley such as Bramley, Armley, and Rodley, which suggests that the Anglo-Saxons were moving in to utilize land not already occupied by the native Britons. In the Aire valley at least they were settlers who must have worked hard to clear their land and establish farmsteads.

Before the Norman Conquest Calverley had belonged to Arnketill, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman, and was worth 20 shillings. After the Conquest the land was given to Ilbert de Lacy, a Norman who held large amounts of land in the North of England, including two castles at Clithero and Pontefract. At the time of Domesday the village is described as 'waste' or unproductive. This is probably a reflection of William's slash-and- burn policy towards the rebellious Northern English which later became known as the 'Harrying of the North'.

Medieval Calverley
There is no description of medieval Calverley. Domesday for example mentions no hall or church, but both may have been there. Domesday is after all a revenue document and anything which would not produce revenue for the king was likely to be omitted.

However, there are one or two clues which might help us to build up a picture of what the village might have been like. Names of fields can help with this. For instance one of the fields to the north of the parish church has the name Old Hall Field on a map of 1760. It is probably the same one known as Hallstead in medieval documents. This might be site of an early medieval manor house, if not of the original Anglo-Saxon one. Certainly the present Calverley Hall on Bradford Road only dates back as far as the late 13th or early 14th century.

Looking at the layout of the fields can also help us to build up our picture of the past. If we look at the first large-scale Ordnance Survey maps of the area, which was produced in the 1850s, we can see the arrangement of the fields around the village before they were built over in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At either side of the road are rows of long thin fields. These are the 'fossilized' outline of the medieval field system. These were once large open fields divided into strips which were shared amongst the villagers. The long thin fields we can see on the map were created by parcelling up two or three of these strips to make a field as we would recognize it today. By learning to recognize them on the map we can see where the old field must have been.

St Wilfrid's Church
St Wilfrid's, the parish church of Calverley, is dedicated to an Anglo-Saxon saint but there is no clear evidence that there was a pre –Conquest church in Calverley. The walls of the present nave are probably 11th or 12th century in origin, but one small fragment of Anglo-Saxon work suggests that there may have been an earlier structure on the site. The tower was added in the 13th or 14th century but the top story was not added until the 15th century to match the fashion of the time for pinnacles and battlements. Much of the rest of St Wilfrid's was rebuilt in the 1800s.

* Click here to read about St Wilfrid's in the faith section of the website's Community Directory.

Inside the church is a collection of medieval cross slabs. These were stones which were laid horizontally over a grave to commemorate the deceased. Each has an elaborately decorated cross carved on them, which is why they are described as 'cross slabs'. No names are visible on the slabs today, but we can still get an idea of the professions of the deceased as some of the slabs have symbols carved on them Two have swords which suggests that they commemorate knights and one has a chalice which suggests that it covered the grave of a priest.

Calverley Hall
Apart from the church, the oldest building in the village is Calverley Hall, parts of which date to the 1400s. It was much added to in the 16th and 17th centuries. For many years it was the seat of the Calverley family until the construction of Esholt Hall between 1706 and 1710. The hall has since been sub-dived and floors have been inserted.

The Yorkshire Tragedy
Calverley Hall is the setting for The Yorkshire Tragedy, a play wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare. It tells the story of Walter Calverley, who in 1604 suffered from a mental breakdown. He ran through the hall, killed two of his children, attempted to murder his wife and set off to find the baby who was out with a wet nurse. Fortunately for the infant, Calverley's horse stumbled and fell, trapping Calverley beneath it. This gave time for his pursuers to catch up with him and prevent him from causing any further harm. He was taken to Wakefield prison and then to York, where he was tried for murder.

Many people think that Calverley had recovered his sanity by this point for at the trial he refused to plead. He would have known that, if he had been found guilty of murder, his property would be claimed by the Crown. By refusing to plead he ensured that the property passed down to his remaining child. He was therefore found guilty, not of murder, but of contempt of court, and was sentenced to death by pressing. This barbaric sentence was carried out. Calverley was placed on a heavy oak table. A wooden door was placed on top of him and stones laid on the door until the life was crushed out of him.

The story of Walter Calverley is still remembered in the village today. Well into the early 20th century children used to gather in the churchyard to attempt to raise the spirit of the dead man. His ghost was also seen riding through the village and walking into the Hall. There seem to be no recent sightings though. Perhaps the age of the car and the computer has finally laid the unfortunate ghost!

* For more information on West Yorkshire's past, why not explore WYAAS' website at: www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk