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Steeped in banking history, and once
with its own distinctive currency,
the hub of Craven District (originally Settle) is Skipton Branch. In Volume 2 of FOUR CENTURIES
OF BANKING © Martins Bank
Limited 1968, the origins
of the Craven bank are described as follows:
 “The Craven Bank was the product of a long
history of financial co-operation between money men who had gradually
extended their creditworthiness over a larger area until they, in their turn,
became inevitably part of a larger
banking unit. The foundation Partners
of the Craven Bank in 1791 were William and John Birkbeck, William Alcock,
John Peart, Joseph Smith and William Lawson.
Their
partnership helped to join in one credit area the small towns in the Craven
District with which their families had been traditionally associated and in
which they had pioneered rudimentary banking facilities – the Birkbecks of
Settle, the Alcocks of Skipton, the Pearts of Grassington and the Lawsons of
Giggleswick”
The Craven Bank is absorbed by The
Bank of Liverpool in 1906, and thus becomes part of the modern day Martins
Bank.
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In Service:
1791 until 7 March 2024
Image © Barclays Ref
0030-2665
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10.5
Just as Kendal is still known
as Wakefield Crewdson Territory, the Craven branches are given their own
district of Martins Bank. In 1965,
Martins Bank Magazine calls on Skipton branch and offers this rather
curious headline:
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 the history of Skipton branch is the history of the Craven Bank. The
business dates from 1791 when Birkbecks Alcock & Co. opened the Craven
Bank at Settle and also at Skipton where the population was barely 2,000.
Today it exceeds 13,000. The original Skipton office, at the bottom of the
Bailey facing the church, is now used by the Young Farmers' Club. The
Birkbecks, who came from Westmorland to Settle a century before, were wool
staplers, leather workers and general merchants; the Alcocks were
solicitors. William and his cousin
John Birkbeck, William Alcock, John Peart, a Skipton solicitor, William
Lawson of Giggleswick and Joseph Smith, a London banker, were the original
partners and it is known that the Birkbecks and William Alcock had for some
years been lending money against securities before any bank was opened in
the area. In 1837 the Craven Bank, having already acquired the assets of
Chippendale, Netherwood and Carr (the Skipton Bank) moved into their
premises adjoining the present branch site which, as the offices of the
Wharfedale Railway Company, was purchased in 1847 and on which our branch
was built in 1860. Twenty years later the banking firm was incorporated as
the Craven Bank Limited and, as Skipton had then become the chief town in
the Craven District, the Head Office was moved there from Settle. The
amalgamation with the Bank of Liverpool came in 1906 but in and around
Skipton one will still hear our Bank referred to as the Craven Bank.
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The
Skipton Staff
Left
to right:
G. Wiseman, D. V.
Smith, R. Newton, Miss A. Anderson,
Miss S. M. Oldfield,
Mrs L. Monk, Miss J.
Whitton,
M. Rhodes, R. M. Carr,
J. Mashiter (Manager),
A. Struthers
(Assistant Manager),
Miss D. Geldart, Miss
B. Peacock,
Mrs E. J. Metcalfe,
B. Horn, Miss A.
Tomlinson,
Miss M. Beadnall, Miss
M. E. Hill
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The first General Manager was George Robinson, a militia
colonel, whose eldest son, Geoffrey, changed his name to Dawson on
receiving a legacy from a relative on his mother's side and later became
the editor of The Times. George
Robinson, with mutton-chop whiskers and heavy tweed cape and deerstalker
hat, was a familiar and revered figure in the town. Although he had entered
the bank as a clerk he was related to William Robinson, one of the
partners. By the turn of the century the bank had 15 full offices and
numerous sub branches; Welbury Kendall was Manager at Skipton and acted as
A.G.M., and there was an inspector, J. H. Bramwell, whose clerk, Tom Kidd,
made a loud buzzing noise when adding a column of figures.
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Image ©
Barclays Ref 0030-2665
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In those days the strong room was lit by a gas jet and had
an outer and an inner door—each with three
keys. Gold was in common use and as the cattle market was held in the High
Street bovine entries were not uncommon in the banking hall.
The half-yearly
balance often lasted until 2 a.m. but Colonel Robinson's store cupboard was
thoughtfully left unlocked on such occasions and the staff, other than juniors,
refreshed themselves from the directors' stock of beer and whisky. George Robinson's successor in 1901 was J. F. Ponting,
formerly Manager of the Keighley branch, whose stringent policies reduced
much of the over-optimistic lending and no doubt made possible the
amalgamation with the Bank of Liverpool in 1906.
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The impetus of the Industrial Revolution was waning, three
directors of the Craven Bank joined the board of the Bank of Liverpool: — W. Peart Robinson,
Samuel Catlow and Arthur Slingsby— and for a time R. H. Gardner,
Superintendent of Branches, lived in Skipton and organised the new Craven
District. Mr John Mashiter came to Skipton as
Manager in 1947 after nine years in Liverpool where he had been Inspector,
but he is a native of Westmorland and though his banking life began in
Manchester most of his time had been spent in the north
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One could fill a page with
his interests and services to the community covering church, hospital,
housing, drama and savings, but he is at heart a countryman, vice-president
of the Skipton and District Young Farmers' Club and a member of the Skipton
District Committee of the Yorks (W.R.) County Agriculture. Executive
Committee. His absorption in the traditions of the Craven Bank and the area
it has served so well has enabled him to provide valuable material for the
Bank's history. Like so many of our
branches today, Skipton has a predominantly young but none the less capable
staff. Whether young and old, those who have been there throughout the
structural changes in recent years have come through them very well.
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The Craven Heifer
Whose glassy stare
greets the customers of Skipton Branch
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Image ©
Barclays Ref 0030-2665
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Three years ago a tedious
task was undertaken to provide a strong room extension and a staff room at
the back of the office, but the subsequent complete reconstruction of the
interior has resulted in the old office being unrecognisable though the
exterior remains unchanged. One feature which particularly invites comment
is the figured glass window depicting the Craven Heifer, symbol of the
former Craven Bank. The Craven Heifer, an enormous beast bred by the Rev.
William Carr of Bolton Abbey, achieved fame through being exhibited widely
and, depicted against the ruins of Bolton Abbey, it displaced the
Castleberg Rock, Settle, as a symbol on Craven Bank notes in 1817:
subsequently it appeared on cheques. 'The notes with a coo on' were easily
recognised, particularly by illiterates, and always accepted by the prudent
in the days when many bank notes were suspect.
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The Skipton area has enjoyed its boom periods, providing
clothing and food in two world wars. The textile side has declined as
man-made fibres have developed but the sheep and cattle of the West Riding
are very much as they used to be— except, of course, for the Craven Heifer. It seems
appropriate that a man-made portrait should remain where everyone entering
our branch can see it.
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…
and don’t forget the CHEQUES
with the Coo on!
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Image ©
Stephen Walker
This Skipton
Cheque dates from August 1930, when pride in the history of the Craven Bank
is still shown through the depiction of the Craven Heifer. As the design of Martins Bank cheques
changes, this kind of attention to
the detail of history will be replaced with a ubiquitous corporate look…
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Image reproduced by kind permission of K. Ellwood, V.
Rowley,
and North Yorkshire County Council, Skipton Library.
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 In the twenty-first Century and more than two hundred years since it
was first opened, Skipton is still going strong. At time of writing,
Barclays operates the Branch six days a week, and the building is in fine
shape as evidenced by this lovely contemporary image taken for us in
September 2018 by Friend of the Archive, Lynne Gillett.
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Image ©
Barclays Ref 0030-2665
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Image ©
Martins Bank Archive Collections – Lynne Gillett, September 2018
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