Robin Longbottom looks at how a Bogthorn-born architect – initially with his father ­– played a role in designing many familiar buildings across the area

AT the junction of Goose Cote Lane and Oakworth Road in Bogthorn, near Keighley, stands a former Wesleyan chapel, now converted into a dwelling. It was built in 1882, for both worship and as a school.

The chapel’s architect was John Judson.

He was born in Bogthorn in 1840 and was the third son of John Judson senior. His father was a painter and decorator who in his 50s turned to designing buildings. In 1861 he described himself as an architect and employed his son, John, as his assistant. John junior took the practice after his father retired and as well as designing the new chapel also agreed the tenders for the work and oversaw the construction.

Details of the tenders have survived and perhaps unsurprisingly nearly all those approved were submitted by local men. The contract for the building work was won by William Sharp, a stonemason living nearby at Sykes Head, Oakworth. He submitted the cheapest of four tenders with a price of £334 16 shillings 6 pence. The joiners’ work went to Bailey and Wilkinson, a local partnership between Wilson Bailey of Laycock and James Wilkinson and his brother, Wilkinson Wilkinson, both of Lidget, Oakworth. The price for the joinery work was £122 5 shillings 10 pence.

The plasterer was also a local man, Samuel Binns of New Road Side, Ingrow, and he undertook the work for £31 5 shillings. The plumber and glazier, Tobias Lambert, was from Haworth and priced his work at £14 15 shillings. However, the contract for slating the chapel went to Abraham Hill & Sons of Manningham, Bradford, who came in cheaper than his Keighley rival with a price of £37 5 shillings. The total cost of building the chapel came to £540 7 shillings 4 pence.

Bogthorn chapel was a small undertaking compared with others designed by the Judsons – which include the Wesleyan Chapel at Denholme, Slack Lane Chapel, Oakworth (which replaced the old Zion Chapel in 1879) and St Paul’s Wesleyan Chapel in Brighouse.

The Royal Oak Inn (now the Mill Hey) at Haworth was an early commercial building designed by father and son in 1863. It was a speculative development erected across from the intended site for Haworth Station on the proposed Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. The inn also included its own brewhouse and stables for four horses.

Industrial buildings were also designed and included the mill and weaving shed at Myrtle Grove, Cross Roads, erected for William Haggas, and the extension of Prospect Mill in Wadsworth, near Hebden Bridge.

After John Judson senior died in 1887 John junior took his assistant, Fred Moore, into partnership and subsequently practised as John Judson & Moore. The business until then had operated from Bogthorn and now opened an office in Albany Buildings, Market Street, Keighley and later another in Bradford.

The new partnership designed several buildings in Keighley. Hattersley Crescent in Church Street, a prominent row of shops with accommodation above, was an early commission. Other commercial developments in the town include the shops, with offices and accommodation above, on the corner of High Street and North Street. The building has three storeys and is embellished with eccentric attic gables, finials and ornately-carved tablets.

In 1897 the partnership designed the Liberal Club (now Keighley Playhouse) at the bottom of Devonshire Street. This building has an unusual corner entrance with a first floor balcony above the door and is dominated by a truncated seven-sided steeple.

Other local buildings included Highfield School, Keighley, Morton Banks Hospital at Riddlesden and the Keighley Union Infirmary in Oakworth Road (now Hillworth Lodge).

After John Judson’s death Fred Moore took his assistant, Jabez Crabtree, into partnership and continued the practice under the name of Moore and Crabtree.