Bolton Abbey. From 1305 to 1313, Bolton Priory paid for the bridge over the River Aire to be built in stone. They also built Kildwick Grange as a local residence. In 1539, Henry VIII dissolved the monastery at Bolton and granted Kildwick manor to Robert Wilkinson and Thomas Drake of Halifax but granted the church to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1549, Thomas Drake alienated the Manor to John Garforth of Farnhill. In 1558, the Garforths sold it all to the Currer family with whose lineal descendants it remains. Population 1379 Poll Tax recorded Kildwick township as having only 10 households, all paying the minimum tax. 1672 Hearth Tax counted 25 households in the township with mostly but one fireplace, but also the 14-hearthed manor house. 1821 parish registered 8,605 inhabitants. 1831 parish was 9,926 however township only 190. 1881 the parish had been divided so district down to 8,923. 1891 district up to 9,859 but township down to 145. St Andrew's Church St Andrew's is a historically significant church. Fragments of 10th-century crosses have been excavated from its walls, evidence of the Anglo Saxon church built here before the Norman conquest. It was replaced by one of stone in the 12th century. Cecilia de Romille gave the church to Bolton Priory in Wharfedale, the Manor of Kildwick coming under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Bolton. After the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 Scots raiders sacked Bingley and Bradford Churches, but spared Keighley and Kildwick Churches because they were dedicated to St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. However, in 1318 the church building was badly damaged by Scottish raiders. In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the monastery and granted the church to Christ Church, Oxford. In the reign of Henry VIII under the patronage of Christ Church the church was almost entirely rebuilt. During the 15th and 16th centuries the church was lengthened, with further extensions eastwards so that it is now one of the longest in Yorkshire hence known locally as 'The Lang Kirk of Craven'. The church was restored in 1873 by the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin. Changes have taken place since then, including extension of the chancel and a further restoration of the nave in 1901–03 by the successors in the Lancaster practice, Austin and Paley. Charlotte Brontë and other members of the Brontë family were acquainted with the church. Kildwick Parish Ancient Kildwick Parish was