A PIECE of Silsden’s history has been preserved.

Builders working on a new housing development in the town unearthed a stone which once graced the facade of a community hall.

Now the stone has been restored and installed into a newly-built wall at the entrance to the estate, off Keighley Road.

And a blue information plaque has been placed alongside it.

The project has been staged jointly by Silsden Local History Group, the town council and developer Harron Homes.

The historic stone used to feature on the front of The Oddfellows Hall, which opened in 1851.

Built over three storeys, the premises originally housed the headquarters of the workers’ friendly society which gave the site its name.

Later, the lower floors provided basic back-to-back accommodation for weavers.

After the First World War, the Oddfellows relinquished use of the building and the upper hall was utilised as a Catholic church, accessed by a narrow flight of stone steps.

But in 1956 a visiting bishop described the church as “by far the ugliest and most deplorable in the whole of the West Riding”, and its days were numbered.

Soon afterwards the congregation moved into the old Wesleyan Methodist Church in Silsden, and The Oddfellows Hall was demolished in 1962 during clearance work in Keighley Road.

The building’s inscribed name-stone somehow escaped the wrecking ball.

Harron Homes contractors found it almost intact in a buried cellar when they began preparing an access road into the new estate, known as The Banks.

Silsden Town Council chairman Councillor Peter Robinson praises the work of the local history group and Harron Homes in bringing the project to fruition.

It is now hoped to provide more blue plaques in the town, at sites of historic interest.

“I’m delighted that the Oddfellows Hall stone has been recovered – it’s a piece of Silsden’s history,” said Councillor Robinson.

“It would be great to see this project move forward with more blue plaques around Silsden and we have agreed in principle with the history group to help finance it.”

The function of the Oddfellows – sometimes known as ‘the poor man’s Masons’ – was to protect its members during periods of sickness or unemployment, at a time when there was no welfare state

It was one of many similar organisations in Silsden during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

But the Oddfellows was the only one to have such imposing premises.

Apart from the Earl of Thanet Lodge, which had its own rooms in Kirkgate, the other friendly societies met in local pubs or churches.