Geograph - photograph every grid square

“The Law(?) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Training a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not part from it. This School and House was built at the Charitable Bequest(?) of Mr William Staines of LONDON Anno Domini 1787.” He became Sir William Staines, Lord Mayor of London. The school was erected on a close called Longlands, on the “north side of the highway leading from the town of Southowram to Brighouse”. Lady Royd is on the south side of the present road, but Jeffreys's map of 1775 shows that at that time the road had a sharp bend to the south part-way up the steep hill from Brookfoot, and then curved round to meet the present line a little to the west of Lady Royd. This route is confirmed by the draft OS 1” map of 1840, although broken by a quarry by then, and is perpetuated by field boundaries on the various editions of the 6” map. The present Lady Royd doesn't look as old as 1787, nor does it look like a purpose-built school. By 1857 the school was reported as being disused, and it was sold in 1860. It would seem likely that soon after that date it was demolished and Lady Royd built, and the plaque saved and set into a window embrasure.