The Great Barn
A tithe barn on colossal oak timbers, barely altered since the 17th century, that many visitors rank above the house itself.
In 1933 this stone house was sold to a buyer who planned to pull it down and cart the stone away. Two Keighley brothers, William and John Brigg, stepped in and bought it with its land, then handed it to the National Trust in 1934 so nobody could ever knock it down. What they saved is a 17th-century manor rebuilt between 1642 and 1648 by James Murgatroyd, a Halifax clothier, in dark gold Yorkshire stone, signed with two circular Yorkshire Rose windows over its doorways and stuffed with royalist carving that reads as open defiance in the middle of the Civil War. Inside is small, and that is the point rather than the problem: a handful of restored rooms with heavy oak furniture and moulded plaster ceilings, then a courtyard and the Starkie wing, of which only the facade survived a 1905 demolition, so its empty windows frame Yorkshire sky instead of glass. Across the lawn stands the Great Barn, a tithe barn on colossal oak timbers that has barely changed since the 17th century and that some date back to the Middle Ages; many visitors quietly rank it above the house itself. Around it sit a walled formal garden, a wild garden, a duck pond, meadows sloping to the River Aire and a tearoom in the old Bothy. Film crews know the place better than tourists do: both the 1992 and 2009 Wuthering Heights were shot here, as was the BBC's Gunpowder in 2017, and the staff tell the ghost stories, the Grey Lady chief among them, without embarrassment. With children it is a pleasant hour or two: room to run, ducks on the pond, a mud-pie kitchen and seasonal trails. The upper floor has no lift, and pushchairs stop at the stairs. From Bradford it is an easy half-day. The 662 bus from Bradford Interchange runs along Bradford Road and stops at the gate in about 45 minutes; by car it is around 25 minutes up the A650 with free parking. Opening is 10:00 to 16:00 on set days, gates lock at 16:30, and the house closes for most of the winter, so check the National Trust calendar before setting out. Admission is £7.50 for adults and free for Trust members. Do not drive out for this alone: pair it with Cliffe Castle Museum a few kilometres away in Keighley, or Saltaire on the way back.
A tithe barn on colossal oak timbers, barely altered since the 17th century, that many visitors rank above the house itself.
Two carved circular windows over the doorways, the signature of the clothier who rebuilt the house in the Civil War years.
A lone facade left by the 1905 demolition, its empty windows framing sky, and the best photograph on the site.
Bradford Road, Riddlesden, Keighley BD20 5EL
For an hour or two, yes: room to run, a duck pond and a huge barn, but the house itself is small and the upper floor has no lift. Do not make it the only stop of the day; pair it with Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, and skip it in winter when the house is closed most weeks and the weather turns wet.
Yes, both the 1992 and 2009 versions filmed here, as did the BBC's Gunpowder in 2017. Do not expect a film exhibition though; it is presented as a historic house, and the screen history comes up only if you ask the staff.