Jim,

You can find out more about the house in the Round and About Aireborough Vol II by Martin Rigg and in Bygone Guiseley by Wallace Cooper but here's a five minute history:

Hugh Marshall of Rawdon bought the land from the Duke of Norfolk. The house was built around 1722 as Kettlewell, poss. "Cattle well" being the name of the pond still visible today. The house then remained in the Marshall family throughout the 18th century. A famous visitor during this time is John Wesley.

At the end of the century the house passed to Nicholas Ridsdale who was an overseer to the poor of Guiseley and then in 1815 to the Thompson brothers, Benjamin and Matthew. Matthew's son, Matthew William succeeded the ownership until his death in 1891.

In that time, Sir Matthew William was responsible for the building of Forster Square station and the adjoining Midland Hotel in Bradford, as well as the Town Halls of Bradford and Guiseley. As well as this, he was Chairman of the Glasgow and SouthWest railway company and of the Forth Bridge Company, responsible for the build of the bridge which he regularly visited in his private carriage, sided at Guiseley station.

HTH

There speaks the voice