THE STORIES of two enterprising Victorians are bound up with a Yeadon mill which dominated the landscape for more than a century.

Leafield Mill can be seen in these photographs, from the online archive of Aireborough Historical Society, along with images of two of the men who owned it.

The mill was built by William Starkey as part of his attempt to recreate machinery described in the bible.

Wesleyan preacher and cloth merchant Starkey wanted to power Leafield Mill using a perpetual motion device based on the “wheel within a wheel” from the book of Ezekiel. His doomed quest is described in the archives of Aireborough Historical Society.

The society says: “He gave a lecture in Yeadon Wesleyan Chapel in July 1868; his ideas were dismissed by engineers but he persisted.

“He built a four-storey block with no floors but platforms, this was to access an enormous wheel which would have hollow ‘S’ shaped spokes filled with iron balls which supposedly moved when the wheel turned and the whole apparatus would continue to move perpetually and provide motive power.

“He died in 1879 having failed to find a manufacturer to make the giant wheel.”

Starkey, who was born in 1801, had also donated £50 towards the cost of building Yeadon Town Hall, which opened a year after his death.

The mill was finished in 1884 and taken over by James Ives. It was demolished a century later and a housing estate is now on the site. A large stone bearing the mill name is set into a perimeter wall on Kirk Lane.

James was born in 1829 and was just eight when his parents died. He was brought up by his uncle Jonathan Ives, living with him at Mount Pleasant in Guiseley.

It is believed his first job may have been at Upper Mill in Guiseley. He founded his company James Ives & Sons in 1848. The company owned both Manor Mill and Leafield Mill.

James retired in 1884 and died 20 years later. The company was run by his descendants until the Manor Mill closed in 1980.

An undated photograph of James is believed to have been taken at one of his mills in Yeadon. It appears to show a salesman showing cloth to a buyer while James looks on.

Another photograph shows members of his family, including his wife in the centre of the picture.

A photograph taken on holiday shows James in Colombo, Sri Lanka - or Ceylon, as it would then have been called.

The demolition of Leafield Mill is captured in a shot donated to AHS by Dennis Court. The falling mill chimney can be seen through the gap in the houses.

Manor Mill can also be seen in an aerial photograph from 1930.

The Aireborough Historical Society website says: "Manor Mill was situated at the junction of Kirk Lane and Haworth Lane (formerly Manor Road), built in 1882 as a company mill.

"In 1865 the first power looms were installed by E&T Bolton.

James Ives leased the company from 1865-1884, his company bought the mill outright in 1911.The mill closed in 1980 and was demolished the following year."

James is remembered in a book written by Eric B Dobson -“A Century of achievement: The History of James Ives & Company Limited 1848-1948, Woollen Manufacturers, Leafield Mill and Manor Mill, Yeadon, Yorkshire, England."

In it he is described as "a pioneer in his own industry" who had to take "many a leap in the dark".