Keighley

Keighley (pronounced Keith-ley) is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England, north of Bradford, on the meeting point of the River Aire and the River Worth. It is within the metropolitan borough of Bradford and part of the Brontë Country.

The towns industries have typically been in textiles, particularly wool and cotton processing. The population grew from less than 6000 in 1800 to more than 60,000 in 1850 during a boom spurred by these industries.

On the outskirts there is Cliffe Hall, also known as Cliffe Castle and now Keighley Museum. Keighley is also the home base of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage railway that passes through Haworth (parth of the Brontë Country, home of Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë) and terminates at Oxenhope. The Vintage Railway Carriage Museum is on site. Top Withens and the Brontë Waterfalls are within walking distance from a village called Stanbury, a mile and a half from Haworth.

East Riddlesden Hall is close to Keighley.

Bill Bryson in his book Notes from a Small Island jokingly asked why it was that the British army uses beautiful countryside for munition target practice, rather than a place like Keighley.

In 2003 The Idler magazine set up an online poll to decide which were the 50 worst places to live in Britain. The results were published in a book Timothy Taylor Brewery, the makers of several award-winning ales such as Landlord, Taylor's Best Bitter and Golden Best.

Keighley is the birthplace of the 1970s/80s pop singer Kiki Dee.