Dick Hudsons in Bingley is holding a History Day on May 27

On Monday, May 27 the pub and restaurant is holding a History Day, raising funds for Marie Curie.

Local historian Alan Cattell has written a booklet, Dick Hudson’s/The Fleece - High Eldwick: The History of A Moorland Inn, tracing the history of the pub, with donations from sales going to Marie Curie.

Copies of the booklet will be available on the day, and Eldwick historian Allan Mirfield will also be giving a presentation.

Alex Duxbury of Dick Hudsons, who is organising the History Day, and Kai Harrison, who is chef at the pub, will be tackling the Three Peaks on June 15, aiming to raise £500 for Marie Curie in memory of Alex’s mum.

Assistant manager Rosie Ingham will be leading the day.

Here, in excerpts from his booklet, ALAN CATTELL looks back at the history of Dick Hudsons:

The Fleece Inn (now known as Dick Hudson’s) was originally a farmhouse. The licence from a nearby inn on a drovers route was moved to Highgate Farm in the late 1700s, when a new road was built from Eldwick Hall to High Eldwick.

Four generation of Hudsons were farmers and innkeepers at the inn. Thomas1809-1850, Richard (Dick Hudson) 1850-1880, John 1880-1893 and Richard (Jr) 1893-1896.

The inn became known as Dick Hudson’s, a popular calling point on the route from Shipley Glen over Rombalds Moor to Ilkley from 1870 onwards. Between 1850-1870 Shipley Glen had become a popular destination to visit by school parties, church and temperance groups. Dick Hudson spotted the potential to develop trade at the inn allied to the developing railway network to Shipley and Saltaire. The Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and Licensing Act 1872 meant that more workers from Leeds and Bradford were seeking an escape from town living and walking over the moors to Ilkley. Dick Hudson’s was a perfect spot to stop for a drink and meal and Hudson improved access onto Rombalds Moor across the road from the inn.

Bank Holiday Fairs at Easter and Whitsun on Shipley Glen in the 1870s, and the building of an Aerial Glide, Switchback, Tobbogan Run and Tramway in the 1880s and 1890s further enhanced trade for the inn. When Dick died in 1880 his son John took over the pub and expanded business until he died in 1893. By this time the inn was famous for its ham and eggs teas.

John’s son, Richard Jr, tried to run the inn and other businesses until 1896 but overcommitted himself and declared himself bankrupt. John Groth an Austrian entrepreneur, bought the Fleece in late 1896 and had plans for expansion, but he too declared himself bankrupt. Tetley and Sons the Brewers bought the pub in 1896. The old Fleece farmhouse was demolished in 1899 and a new inn built on the site by Tetley’s in 1900.

James Newsome became landlord in the early 1900s and through family connections on his wife Mary Anne’s side, Dick Hudsons landlords from then until 1950 were James and Arthur Clarke, then Arthur’s wife, then her second husband on Arthur’s death, Frank Turner.

The Airedale Beagles meet at the inn in 1947 (Image: Alan Cattell)

Several texts have included reference to Dick Hudson’s. Windyridge (1913) by Bradford author Willie Riley identified the pub as Uncle Ned’s. Fame is the Spur (1940) included the name and location of the inn and characters having a ham and egg moorland tea. JB Priestley (1932) in Selected Essays - On the Moors described the location of the inn and the importance of the moors as an escape for the workers of Bradford. On a return visit to Yorkshire after some years away he recalled having a couple of pints of bitter there.

Other famous visitors include Vesta Tilley and Zena Dare, vaudeville performers in the 1900s. Bradford composer Frederick Delius, as a boy, took the route past Dick Hudsons on a walk over to Ilkley with his brother.

Dick Hudsons as it looked in 1909 (Image: Alan Cattell)

Halifax-born Wilfred Pickles, radio broadcaster and host on hit BBC quiz Have a Go (first broadcasted in Bingley in 1947), visited the pub in 1949 with his wife Mabel and had a drink with Frank Turner, the landlord. Several days later Wilfred recorded Over the Moors to Ilkley for BBC Children’s Hour.

John Ball (known locally as Johnny Baker for his cooking prowess) worked and lodged at the inn for some years before living in a one-roomed house on Rombalds Moor. He’d been a navvy on reservoirs since being a boy and ran a canteen for navvies building Weecher Reservoir. He was prosecuted by Bingley Magistrates in the early 1890s for selling beer illegally from the canteen and operating an illegal whisky still. He was famous locally for frying up eggs and ham at Dick Hudson’s in an 18 inch frying pan, the smell floating down the valley as far as Eldwick. He was renowned as a killer of pigs and curer of ham. Latterly he lived on the moor for 23 years until he died in 1933 and was known as the Hermit of Rombalds Moor.

Now owned by Vintage Inns, Dick Hudsons is historically spelt without the apostrophe. It is spelt either way.

* Alan Cattell of Bingley is a retired university lecturer who has had five books published: Bingley and Surrounds - Forgotten Moments from History; Bingley a Living History; Titus Salt and Sons - A Farming Legacy; Shipley Glen - The History and Development of a Victorian Playground; Bingley Baths - A Lasting Legacy, with proceeds donated to: Friends of Myrtle Park, Friends of Bingley Swimming Pool, Manorlands Hospice, Sue Ryder Charity Shop, Bingley.

Donations from the Dick Hudson booklet to Marie Curie. It will be available at Dick Hudsons and Luscombes, Bingley.

* Dick Hudsons would like to hear from people who have memories or stories about the pub. Get in touch at the Dick Hudsons Facebook page.