The Blue Plaque was unveiled by Ann Cryer MP on July 16th 2004 on the Manor House building , the oldest dwelling-house in Ilkley. Along with All Saints' Parish Church it is built on the site of the Roman fort, Olicana. The church sited on the Principia or headquarters building and the Manor House on the western defences. Many robbed-out Roman small squared stone blocks are now part of the building.
Today the Manor House is a community asset run by the Ilkley Manor House Trust. Below is a short summary of the history, however, more can be found by visiting their website – Click on the logo.
The earliest parts of the house date back to the mid-14th century. It’s one of the oldest domestic buildings in West Yorkshire and, unlike most of its rivals, its central manorial domestic great hall (c. 1340 Period I) was built of stone, not timber – probably due to the handy source of Roman material to work with. Architectural historians have designated bits of the existing west wing, containing the buttery and storeroom as 14th century. These include the doorway where the masonry is much more haphazard than other parts of the building and inside there's the ‘cross passage’, as it crossed from the front door to the back door, and on the left of that passage as you go in the interior entrances to the buttery and storeroom have 14th-century shouldered corbelled arches, or 'Caernarfon lintels'.
Sometime between the late 17th century and 1801 the building was converted into four cottages and another was added to the eastern end in the late 18th century between the edge of the Old Castle and the church wall.
The census returns show that over time the cottages became very crowded and by the second world war the building was very dilapidated and lacked modern facilities. A local benefactor a man called Percy Dalton purchased the Old Castle in 1944. Percy Dalton had promoted a nationwide competition in 1943 for the ‘re-planning of a considerable area of the town about the Parish Church and the Old Castle and the Riverside’. (Ilkley Gazette, 21st May 1943). The competition was won by Capt. Hubert Bennett, who later became Sir Hubert Bennett, the renowned architect. The overall decision was to turn the Old Castle into a museum and beautify the ‘exceptionally untidy’ Castle Yard area.
Percy was born in 1894 and baptised on 15th February at St Cuthbert’s in Hunslet, Leeds to Mary Anna and Percy Dalton (Senior), a butcher. In 1895 Percy Dalton Snr was running the butchers at 13 Church Street. The numbers on Church Street were changed and today this is no. 17 (Eric Spencers) so just opposite to the entrance to the Manor House. In 1911 Percy Jnr, was working as an assistant in the shop.
Percy Dalton fought in the First World War and won a Distinguished Conduct Medal as an acting bombardier for ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’ for extinguishing a potentially deadly fire under heavy shelling.
After the war, Percy returned home to found the Stokes and Dalton Spice Merchants in Leeds. In 1918 the Dalton’s Butchers business transferred to 1 Brook Street. When Percy’s father died in 1937 he and his brother, Billy, inherited the family business, though it was Billy who ran the shop itself. Percy was producing spices at the former Ilkley Brewery in Railway Road.
In 1938, Percy wrote ‘Dalton's Meat Recipes: A Complete Guide to Small Goods Success for the Meat Retailer’ and Stokes and Dalton became a well-known brand. During the Second World War Percy turned the Ilkley Brewery to manufacturing cornflakes.
The Old Castle was eventually condemned in 1955 and was on the brink of demolition. There was considerable public concern for the old building. Percy Dalton conveyed the building to Ilkley Urban District Council in 1959 for use as a Museum. On 8th July, 1961, Percy Dalton opened the museum now called the Manor House.
The Friends of the Manor House which was formed in 1963. The objectives were to work for the future and development of the Manor House. It continued to deliver talks, events and campaigning for almost 60 years, finally being wound in 2022.
Bradford Metropolitan District Council took over Ilkley Urban District Council in 1974 and ran the Manor House until 2015 when it ceased due to lack of funds. Various local groups worked to secure the asset for the Ilkley Community and in April 2018 the Ilkley Manor House Trust signed the lease documents to take over the buildings.