page_title: Craven
section_title: A629 and A65 Keighley–Kendal
hierarchical_section_title: Craven / Transport / Main Routes / A629 and A65 Keighley–Kendal
caption_attribution_description: English: River Aire - Main Road, Kildwick
context_page_description: Craven is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England centred on the market town of Skipton. In 1974, Craven district was formed as the merger of Skipton urban district, Settle Rural District and most of Skipton Rural District, all in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 55,409. It comprises the upper reaches of Airedale, Wharfedale, Ribblesdale, and includes most of the Aire Gap and Craven Basin.
  The name Craven is much older than the modern district, and encompassed a larger area. This history is also reflected in the way the term is still commonly used, for example by the Church of England.
context_section_description: The route of the A65 road is perhaps the oldest for it follows a Neolithic trade route for stone axes from central Cumbria. By the 18th century the principal exports were cattle and most imports came on ninety pack horses from Kendal. The cost of that for heavy goods was prohibitive so the textile industrialist of Settle campaigned that the road from Keighley to Kendal be made passable to wheeled vehicles and in 1753 the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike Trust was founded. By 1840 passenger stagecoaches ran daily but in 1878 Parliament abolished all Turnpikes and set up County Councils; and the management of the main roads was transferred to them.
  By 1968 traffic had so increased in volume that it necessitated the rebuilding of the A629 and A65. The Skipton northern bypass of 1981 cost £16.4 million. The Kildwick bypass was completed in 1988.
caption: The new A629 bypasses Kildwick village, built 1968–88
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