The History of Bradford

By Tim Lambert

BRADFORD IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Bradford began as a Saxon village by a ford. Brad meant broad. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the village by the broad ford had grown quite large (by the standards of the time) with perhaps 300-350 people.

It was turned into town when the villagers were allowed to hold a weekly market. In those days there were no shops and anyone wishing to buy or sell anything had to go to a market. Once the market was up and running craftsmen would come and live in the town and sell their goods at the market.

Bradford would seem tiny to us, with a population of no more than several hundred but towns and villages were very small in those days. There were only 3 streets, Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate. (The word gate does not mean a gate in a wall it is derived from the old Danish word 'gata' meaning street).

In Bradford in the Middle Ages there was a leather tanning industry. There was also a wool industry in Bradford. Wool was woven in the town. It was then fulled. That means it was cleaned and thickened by being pounded in a mixture of water and clay. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by a watermill. When it dried the wool was dyed.

Bradford slowly grew more important and in 1461 it was granted the right to hold 2 fairs. In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year. Bradford fairs would attract buyers and sellers from all over Yorkshire.

According to legend the boar became Bradford's emblem because of an incident in the Middle Ages. A boar was terrorising a wood near the town. (Wild boars were vicious animals). The Lord of the Manor offered a reward to anyone who could kill it. A hunter named John Nothrop saw it drinking at a well. He killed the boar and cut out is tongue to prove it was dead. However a little later another hunter saw the boar. He cut off its head and took it to the Lord before Nothrop could get there. However he could not explain why the boar's tongue was missing. Nothrop then turned up with the tongue and he was given land as a reward.

BRADFORD IN THE 16th AND 17th CENTURIES

During the 16th century Bradford grew much larger and more important. This was despite outbreaks of plague. It struck Bradford in 1557-58.

The wool industry continued to grow. By the 16th century many people in villages near Bradford wove wool. It was then taken to the town to be fulled and dyed. There was also a considerable leather tanning industry in Bradford.

About 1540 a writer named Leland described Bradford as: 'A pretty busy market town, about half the size of Wakefield. It has one parish church and a chapel dedicated to St Sitha. It lives mostly by (making) clothing and is 4 miles distant from Halifax and 6 from Christhall Abbey. There is a confluence in this town of 3 brooks'.

By 1500 a grammar school existed in Bradford and in the late 16th century the wooden houses in the town were rebuilt in stone.

In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. The people of Bradford solidly supported parliament but the surrounding countryside sided with the king. In October royalist troops made their first attempt to take Bradford but the townspeople easily drove them off. The royalists returned in December 1642 but again they were driven off. In January 1643 a force of parliamentary soldiers was sent to occupy Bradford.

In June 1643 a royalist army was sent to take the town. Before they arrived the parliamentary commander decided Bradford was too difficult to defend and he decided to slip away. However his men were intercepted by the royalists at Adwalton Moor. The royalists were victorious.

The defeated parliamentary army fled back to Bradford. After 2 days they decided to escape at night. Most of them fought their way through the royalist lines and escaped. The royalist soldiers then entered Bradford and sacked it. Bradford remained in royalist hands for a short time but they abandoned the town at the beginning of 1644.

In March 1644 the parliamentarians again entered Bradford. It remained in parliamentary hands till the end of the civil war. However the suffering of the people of Bradford was not over. There was another outbreak of plague in Bradford in 1645.

However prosperity returned to Bradford in the late 17th century when the townspeople began to make worsted instead of woollen cloth. (Worsted is a mixture of wool and cotton).

BRADFORD IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

In the early 18th century Bradford was a small market town with a population of, perhaps, 4,000. However in the late 18th century Bradford was transformed by the industrial revolution.

The textile industry in the north of England boomed. The first bank in Bradford opened in 1771. Bradford canal was built in 1774 and in 1777 it was connected to the Leeds-Liverpool canal. The improvement in communications boosted industry in the town. In 1793 a Piece Hall was built were cloth could be bought and sold. After 1800 the hand loom weavers, who wove cloth in their own homes were replaced by mills were machines were worked by steam engines.

Conditions in these 'dark, Satanic mills' were dreadful. A 12 hour working day was common, even for young children. Overseers carried leather straps to hit children who were lazy or careless. However in the late 19th century conditions improved. Working hours were reduced and mill owners were banned from employing very young children.

In the late 18th century and early 19th Bradford grew very rapidly. In 1780 it had a population of about 4,500. By 1801 it had more than 6,000 inhabitants. By 1851 the population of Bradford had reached an incredible 103,000. The huge rise in population was partly due to immigration from Germany and Ireland.

The very rapid growth of the town meant houses were built in a hiddley-piggledy fashion. There were no building regulations until 1854 and most working class housing was horrid. There were no sewers or drains and overcrowding was common. Worst of all were the cellar dwellings. Whole families lived in damp, poorly ventilated cellars. Often poor families had no furniture. They used wooden boxes as tables and slept on straw or rags.

However there were some improvements in Bradford in the 19th century. In 1803 an Act of Parliament formed a group of men called the Improvement Commissioners who had powers to clean the streets and light them with oil lamps. They could also provide a fire engine and a dust cart. After 1823 the streets of Bradford were lit by gas. In 1847 a corporation was formed to run Bradford. In 1848 the first modern police force in Bradford was formed.

However, like all industrial cities in those days, Bradford was dreadfully unsanitary. In 1848-49 420 people died during a cholera epidemic. Eventually the corporation took action. In the 1860s and early 1870s they created a network of drains and sewers. From 1744 a private water company supplied piped water to anyone who could pay. The council purchased the company in 1854. After 1854 building regulations improved the quality of new working class houses. (Although appallingly bad dwellings built before then remained for decades). In 1877 the corporation began the work of slum clearance.

Meanwhile in 1853-71 Titus Salt built a model village at Saltaire. The village had decent working class homes, schools and a church.

There were other improvements to Bradford during the 19th century. In 1843 an infirmary was built. The first park, Peel Park, opened in 1863. The corporation purchased Peel Park in 1870. The first public library in Bradford opened in 1872.

The railway reached Bradford in 1846. From 1882 horse drawn trams ran in the streets. Electricity was first generated in Bradford in 1889.

In 1898 the first electric trams ran. In 1882 the boundary of Bradford was extended to include Allerton. In 1897 Bradford was made a city. The boundary was extended to include Idle and Eccleshill.

A Wool Exchange was built in Bradford in 1864. City Hall was built in Bradford in 1873.

BRADFORD IN THE 20th CENTURY

In 1904 an industrial exhibition was held in Bradford. Cartwright Memorial Hall was built in 1904. The Alhambra Theatre opened in 1914.

The first council houses in Bradford were built in 1907. Many more were built in the 1920s and 1930s to replace demolished slums. In 1919 the church of St Peter was made Bradford Cathedral. Bradford Royal Infirmary was built in 1936.

In 1916 a fire broke out in a munitions factory. Over 2 days several explosions occurred and 39 people were killed and 2,000 houses were damaged. In 1919 Bradford parish church was made a cathedral.

In 1910 Benjamin and William Jowett started making cars in Bradford. The Jowett company made cars until 1954. In the 1920s and 1930s the textile industry declined sharply and there was mass unemployment in Bradford. However new industries came to Bradford such as engineering. Printing also flourished and there was big increase in the number of clerical jobs. Many more people worked in banking, insurance, civil service and local government. Nevertheless in 1939 the textile industry was still the largest employer in Bradford.

After 1945 the textile industry gradually declined. However Bradford's economy boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. Tractors and televisions were made in the city. However that all ended in the late 1970s and 1980s when recession bit and mass unemployment returned.

In the late 20th century tourism became a major industry in Bradford. Cliffe Castle Museum opened in 1959. Bradford Industrial Museum opened in 1974. The Colour Museum opened in 1978. The Museum of Photography, Film and Television opened in 1983. The Peace Museum opened in 1997.

In the 1950s Bradford was changed by large scale immigration from the West Indies, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Bradford became a multi-cultural city.In the 1950s and 1960s many more council houses were built and the city centre was redeveloped. Bradford University opened in 1966. In 1974 Bradford was made a Metropolitan District Council.

The Kirkgate Centre opened in 1971. The Arndale Centre followed in 1971.

In 1977 a Transport Interchange was built.

The Wool Exchange was refurbished and opened as a shopping centre in 1996.

Bradford Law Courts were built in 1990.


Tragedy struck Bradford in 1985 when a fire at the football ground killed 56 people.

Riots occurred in Bradford in 1995.

At the end of the 20th century several modern sculptures were erected in Bradford including 'Camera Lucida' (1985), Ivegate Arch (1988), 'Grandads Clock and Chair' (1992) and 'Fibres' (1997).

BRADFORD IN THE 21st CENTURY

More riots broke out in Bradford in 2001. The riots were partly blamed on a lack of communication and understanding between the different communities. At the present time the city centre is being refurbished. A new shopping centre is being built at Broadway.