William Dewsbury and Thomas Stubbs (a local man from Ive Delves, Warley) are attributed with settling the Meeting in Keighley, after preaching in the area around 1653. Those convinced included Christopher Smith of Stanbury and Anthony Moore of Oakworth Hall. A burial ground was provided for Friends by Thomas Brigg in c.1659; this was conveyed to trustees in 1691. William Clough of Keighley was amongst those imprisoned for non-payment of tithes in 1665. The Meeting was recorded in 1665 as part of Skipton Monthly Meeting and in 1669 as part of the newly formed Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. It covered Steeton and Stanbury, as well as Keighley, and its leading members were William Clough, Joshua Dawson, Dinis [sic] Waid, Thomas Briggs, Robert Smith and Henry Ambler. The first Meeting House was built in Mill Street in 1709. It is uncertain whether this was rebuilt in 1797, or whether Friends simply bought another building in the same street. The Meeting was in decline at this point, and the premises were let as a school from 1807. By the time of the 1851 census of religious worship Friends are recorded as meeting in a rented room in Change Gate. In 1853, the Meeting was transferred to Brighouse Monthly Meeting, but it was discontinued two years later. An Allowed Meeting opened again in 1872, becoming a full Preparative Meeting three years later. The former Meeting House was repaired and re-opened for worship in 1877. This was superseded in 1936 with a new building on the outskirts of town, in Strawberry Street, off Skipton Road, and this is still in use. The Meeting became part of the re-formed Settle Monthly Meeting in 1924.
From the guide to the Records of Keighley Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1681-1982, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
