A HISTORIC dedication stone from a former working men’s club in Bailiff Bridge near Brighouse will be preserved.

The building, which is on land at Bailiff Bridge Bowling Club, Birkby Lane, is to be demolished to allow eight new homes to be built.

Calderdale Council granted approval for the homes plan, which will see the four-bedroomed houses developed on the site but a councillor and some of Bailiff Bridge’s residents had asked if the working men’s club dedication stone could be saved.

Although the exact placing of where it will go has yet to be decided, developers Blackshaw Holdings Ltd have agreed the stone dedication can be saved.

Resident Laura Nalson said she had spoken to ward councillor George Robinson (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe) about the importance of keeping the village’s heritage of which this, with its direct links to the Firth’s Carpets business, which once employed around 600 people at a time there at its peak, many of them Bailiff Bridge residents, was a visible part.

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And villager Malcolm Silkstone, a Bailiff Bridge community campaigner, explained role the carpet company had played in Bailiff Bridge life since it was founded there in 1867.

“It employed hundreds of people at its peak – parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. It’s part of our heritage,” he said.

The stone, set over an archway, gives a date of 1908 and says: “This club house was built for the use of the people of Bailiff Bridge by Thomas Firth and Algernon Firth.”

A very successful company which produced carpets for sale all over the world, including, on the home front, British Airways and the House of Commons, Firth’s closed in 1998 when it was owned by a U.S. company.

Like Bailiff Bridge Memorial park, the working men’s club was given to the company’s workers as a means of recreation, rather as Titus Salt gifted things to the people of Saltaire, which he built near Bradford, said Mr Silkstone.

Blackshaw Holdings Ltd Project Manager Peter Foulds said the request had come from Coun Robinson and some residents and when the building was demolished the dedication stone would be put aside.

A decision on where it would be sited to come later.

Coun Robinson said: “It’s fantastic that the stone will be preserved.

“Firth Carpets was an iconic brand, known for its unique and long-serving carpets.

“However for me, the company was Bailiff Bridge’s very own Salts Mill, with the company having built a social club and bowling green for use by factory workers.

“Blackshaw Holdings have worked with the community to ensure the stone is saved.

“The stone’s preservation will ensure Firth Carpets, our hidden entrepreneurial gem, is remembered,” he said.

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Bailiff Bridge resident Laura Nalson (OK) and Coun George Robinson at the building with the dedication stone above them