Keighley builders may have stumbled on a major historical find.

MB Housing, based on North Queen Street, is working on a development for flats at Hillworth Lodge, off Oakworth Road.

As builders dug to install sewage pipes, they came across something strange - an underground structure.

Local historian, Ian Dewhirst has examined it.

"It is certainly intriguing," he says.

A piece of curved stone has been partially uncovered, which Mr Dewhirst believes dates back to 1858-1860.

The site was then occupied by a workhouse.

"A support column, girder and the yard surface are, however, of later date," says Mr Dewhirst.

The structure is ten or 12 feet high and contains water.

Mr Dewhirst says: "An obvious guess to the purpose might be a wartime air raid shelter.

"Hillworth Lodge housed several hundred elderly evacuees from 1940 onwards - but somehow, I don't feel this is quite right.

"Alternatively, the workhouse in 1860 is known to have had a well.

"And one of the architects' first measures in 1858 was to arrange drainage from the site into the North Beck, so there could be geological reasons for water in the hole."

Mohammed Bashir, owner of MB Housing, plans to completely uncover the structure and discover its true identity.

He says: "We were a bit surprised about it - we don't know what it is."

Mr Bashir says that a full survey of the site did not show the structure.

"Nobody knew about it," he adds.

A fence has been erected round the hole for safety.

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