SUTTON, including part of the township of Glusburn, formerly a township in Kildwick, and situated on a feeder of the river Aire, was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1869 from the parish of Kildwick, and is 1 mile south from Kildwick station on the Midland Extension railway, 4 ½ north-west from Keighley and 5 ½ south-east from Skipton, in the Northern division of the Riding, East division of Staincliffe and Ewcross wapentake, Keighley union, petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of south Craven, archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. The church of St. Thomas is a handsome structure in the Decorated style, from the designs of W. H. Crossland esq. of London, erected in 1869 at a cost of about £4,000, derived from funds bequeathed by the late Thomas Bairstow esq. of this place, and consecrated on St. Thomas’ day in that year; it consists of chancel, nave, side chapels and handsome porch and tower containing 1 bell: an organ and reredos were added in 1871; the church will seat 320 persons: an exceedingly handsome pulpit and font in white marble have just been presented (1880) by Walter Bairstow esq. BA. and Miss Ellen Bairstow, of Royd Hill. The register dates from 1869. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, in the gift of Christ Church, Oxford, and held by the Rev. Richard William Wilson M.A. of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Here is a school Board consisting of 5 members. The Baptists have a chapel here. The Wesleyans and the United Methodist Free Church have preaching rooms; the former at Sutton and the latter at Sutton Mill. The extensive mills of Messrs. Bairstow for the manufacture of stuffs, the spinning mills of Mr. William Hartley and other works give employment to a large number of hands. Malsis Hall, the ancient manor house of Sutton and now the seat of James Lund esq. J.P., is mentioned as early as the 34th year of Henry VIII. as the property of William Vavasour esq. whose ancestor, Robert-le-Vavasour, held large estates in Sutton in the time of John; the Vavasours were succeeded by the Boyvil family, who held this manor from 33rd year of Edward I. to the 14th year of Edward III. when it became the property of Adam de Copley, whose descendants retained possession till 1621, when Alvary Copley sold it to one Laycock, thence to the Parkers and afterwards to Richard Horsfull esq. from whose family the present owner inherits it: the estate comprises about 1,200 acres of well-wooded undulating land; the present hall, a handsome Grecian edifice, was erected in 1861, and has since then been greatly enlarged. R. T. Parker esq. of Cuerden, near Preston, who is lord of the manor, and James Lund esq. of Malsis Hall, are chief landowners. The land is chiefly pasture. The soil is sand and clay; subsoil various. The area is 2,348 acres; rateable value, £4,981 18s.; the population in 1871, 1,724. The area of the ecclesiastical parish is 2,748 acres; the population in 1871 was 2,376.

Schools

Hoard., for 200 children, Martin Robinson, master; Miss Ada Cowgill, mistress.

National, contiguous to the church, with an infant school added in 1875, William Greenwood, master; Miss Lilly Catterall, mistress.