"Otley - The Midsummer Quarter Sessions for the Liberty
of Cawood, Wistow and Otley, were held at Otley, on Monday, before Francis
Billam, F H Fawkes and B Thompson Esqrs.
The following persons were
sworn on the Grand Jury :-
Mr William Forster, grocer, Otley, Foreman; Mr Wm.
Atkinson, farmer, Otley; Mr W H Deighton, spirit merchant,
Otley; Mr William Rhodes, cloth manufacturer, Guiseley; Mr j
W Scriven, farmer Newall; Mr S Sladen, cloth manufacturer,
Guiseley; Mr James Dale, innkeeper, Otley; Mr B
Holmes, butcher, Otley; Mr Peter Thompson, tallow chandler,
Otley;
Mr H Hodgson, tailor, Otley; Mr John
Hardacre Sen. Baildon; Mr Thomas Young, tanner, Otley;
Mr John Robinson, Low Hall, Baildon; Mr Michael Walker, Baildon and Mr John Smith, shopkeeper, Guiseley.
After the usual proclamation
against vice, profaneness and immorality, had been read, the chairman
congratulated the jury on there being no prisoners for trial, thanked them for
their attendance and discharged them."
Reproduced by kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive, research by Edwy Harling
Additional text by Christine Lovedale :
Francis Billam was a landowner who resided at
Newall Hall and was a Magistrate for the West Riding. Billams Hill in Otley is
named after him.
F H Fawkes owned the Farnley estate and also
the Hawksworth Manor with Hawksworth Hall. He donated the land on which the
Wharfedale Union Workhouse was built in Otley, it was constructed of stone
quarried on the Farnley estate.
These old workhouse buildings became
Wharfedale Hospital, a new hospital was built on an adjacent site and the original
buildings have been converted into homes.
William Rhodes owned Springhead Mill,
Guiseley and for a time lived at Micklefield House, Rawdon.
Samuel Sladen built Greenbottom
Mill in 1827.