An historic link has been uncovered between a threatened Keighley site and one of the town's most popular treasures.

The ornate drawing room ceiling at now-disused Whinburn School is copied from a design at 17th-century East Riddlesden Hall, it has been revealed.

The architectural bond with Keighley's heritage has added further weight to efforts to protect the Whinburn site, which has been disused since closing as a pupil referral unit last year.

Records show that in 1913 Whinburn bought a fireplace and panelling from the hall and took a copy of the drawing room ceiling, when there was a partial sale of the estate.

Mike Freeman, house steward at East Riddlesden Hall, a National Trust property, said: "We have been up to the old school to look at the replica ceiling and, although we knew it was there, we didn't appreciate the extent of it -- it is huge.

"It has a very slightly different layout from the one at the hall, but the basic design is just the same.

"We believe that another plaster ceiling at Whinburn may be a copy of one which once existed at East Riddlesden Hall and we were interested in looking at that during our visit, but unfortunately a lot of the ceilings there have now been covered with boarding.

"Ironically, the fireplace -- sold as part of the lot in 1913 -- returned to the hall in the 1940s, and is still there!"

Whinburn, in Hollins Lane, dates back to the late 1890s, when local industrialist Prince Smith commissioned talented architect James Ledingham to design a new home for himself and his family.

In 1948 the building became a domestic training centre, run by the Institute of House Workers.

And four years later the site was bought by the old West Riding County Council to be transformed into a residential special school. A price was agreed of £2,000 for the land and £8,000 for the building.

Whinburn opened as a school in January 1954.

Local councillor Barry Thorne is among those spearheading demands that any future development at the site be carried out sympathetically.

And his stance is supported by the Yorkshire Gardens Trust, which -- in a detailed survey of the grounds at Whinburn -- uncovered rare species and several historically important features.

The gardens have now been given a grade two listing on an English Heritage national register, which means that Bradford Council would have to take into account the historical significance of the site when considering any planning proposals.

Cllr Thorne said he was told by the council's asset management department that the plot was to be sold at auction.

But the local authority, in a statement to the Keighley News, denied any decision had been made about the site.

Any potential sale has been complicated by the presence of bats, a protected species. A colony was discovered in the building last year and the creatures are still there.