Historic Bradshaw

Historic Bradshaw pictures to bring back some memories of the school, mill, houses and farms etc. Our tour starts at Illingworth Road and up Riley Lane then continues through the village towards the Raggalds. We then return to Bradshaw School to view up Ingham Lane and then back up Pavement Lane towards Keighley Road.

View a 1905 map of Bradshaw here

Riley Lane

The old vicarage was a notable building in the village. An 1877 description praised its Gothic style, pointed gables, carved stone window surrounds and position among the trees near the church. Calderdale’s local history archive dates the building to around 1850 and notes that it was sold in the early 1990s to make way for a replacement vicarage. The old house was regarded as one of the most attractive parsonages in the Halifax area.

St John the Evangelist Church and the cenotaph

The church was built in 1838. The land was provided by Mrs Berry, whose maiden name was Staveley, and the church was built through the generosity of Miss Wadsworth and her brother, the Reverend John Wadsworth.

The church underwent major repairs and alterations in 1853–54. The work included new stone window mullions, a new south porch, improvements to the churchyard and the installation of a new bell weighing 504 pounds. The church reopened for worship at the end of April 1854.

Horton Place was built in 1857 and became an important part of the developing village. The last house in the row later served as the local Post Office and tuck shop, providing a convenient meeting point for residents.

An interesting earlier detail appears in a description of Bradshaw from the late nineteenth century. The large house at the western end of Horton Place had once operated as a beerhouse. Its licence was eventually withdrawn by the magistrates following complaints about its conduct. The building therefore had a rather different role before becoming associated with the village's everyday postal and shopping needs.

Bradshaw Board School officially opened on 27 August 1877, providing a purpose-built school for the children of the village and surrounding district. The building contained separate departments for boys, girls and infants, with accommodation for approximately 450 pupils.

The opening day was surprisingly quiet. Only six boys, five girls and four infants attended, partly because many families had not realised that the school was ready to receive pupils. Before its construction, children had relied on Sunday schools and smaller educational establishments in the surrounding area.

One earlier school had been established at Popples in 1815 through the generosity of Miss Elizabeth Wadsworth of Holdsworth House. The new Board School represented a major step forward in providing organised education for the growing community.

Click here for a page on Bradshaw Primary School

The Co-operative Mills, later known as Tetley's Mill, were established in Bradshaw in 1855. The project came about because local people were concerned about the decline of coal mining and the loss of employment in the district. They wanted to provide alternative work so that families would not have to leave the village to find a living.

John Lassey donated the land, and local residents raised £7,000 towards the construction of the mill. The result was a substantial worsted-spinning factory, rising six or seven storeys and becoming one of the most important employers in the area.

Over the years the mill passed through several different owners, including Pickles, Whitley & Midgley, Patchett & Company and T. S. Tetley. It eventually became associated with Lister's of Manningham Mills in Bradford.

Production finally ended in 1967. The mill's history is an important part of Bradshaw's industrial story, representing the community's determination to replace lost mining employment with new opportunities in the textile industry.

Bradshaw had several public houses serving the village and its surrounding hamlets. A description written in the late 1870s mentions the Fleece Inn and Bradshaw Tavern as two of the principal village inns. The same account refers to three breweries in the wider district, two within the village and another on Illingworth Moor.

The writer even suggested that the abundance of good spring water helped explain why brewing had become such an important local activity. These inns and breweries were part of village life, providing places where residents, workers and visitors could meet.

Bradshaw Cricket Club

Bradshaw Methodist Church 

Methodism had a strong following in Bradshaw during the nineteenth century. Early meetings were held in a small building beside the village blacksmith's shop, before the congregation grew sufficiently to establish its own chapel.

Joseph Lassey helped provide an early place of worship. The building was designed so that it could be converted into two cottages if the religious venture failed to attract sufficient support.

By the early 1860s the congregation had outgrown its accommodation, and a larger chapel was required. A new building was erected in 1864 following a fundraising campaign involving local families and supporters. The opening services raised more than £310, with further assistance coming from the Crossley family.

The chapel reflected the strength of local religious life and the willingness of the village community to contribute towards its own institutions.

Right at the top of Bradshaw used to stand the Fieldings' White Castle Brewery.

White Castle Brewery was established at Bradshaw by Daniel Fielding and became a familiar name in the local brewing trade. The business supplied beer to public houses in Halifax and the surrounding districts, building up a network of around twenty licensed premises.

The brewery was an important local enterprise and formed part of Bradshaw's industrial and commercial history. Its independent existence came to an end in 1961, when the business was acquired by Samuel Webster & Sons.

The name White Castle remains associated with the history of brewing in the district and with the Fielding family, whose business had served local communities for many years.

Coal mining had been an important source of employment in Bradshaw and the surrounding district for generations. The coal seams around Swilling Hill (right hand side of this picture) were worked extensively, providing fuel and a livelihood for many local families.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the industry was experiencing serious difficulties. Some pits had become exhausted or flooded, while other traditional sources of employment were also declining. The loss of work led families to move away in search of better opportunities.

The changing population reflected these difficulties. The wider parish population fell from 3,195 in 1851 to 2,171 in 1861 and 1,941 in 1871. The establishment of the Co-operative Mills in 1855 was partly a response to this decline, as local people sought to create alternative employment and keep the village community together.

A view from the top of Bradshaw

Grey Horse- Perseverence Road 

An 1877–78 account of the district describes the Sun Inn on Swill Hill, a little way above Bradshaw. The building was said to have been erected in 1739 by a man named Holmes and originally called the Gin Pit Inn, after a nearby coal pit belonging to Mr Lassey. The account mentions that the inn once kept a large telescope for visitors, from which distant landmarks such as York Minster were reputedly visible. The hill itself was also associated with local stories of an old beacon fire, supposedly used to pass warnings between distant hilltops. The same account records that during the Chartist agitation large groups of men drilled on Swill Hill, and that military sappers and miners camped there for about six weeks in 1847.

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