2.29   BRA c.1867 DIX   BHM 1892 B28

Yorks & Lancs Railway, widening of line into Bradford (Dixon & Hindle, surveyor)

Oiled linen  10 yards: 1 inch    Size: 40*40cm   Condition: good

Keywords: Railway, Neptune, Exchange, Station, Bridge

This is an undated land purchase plan which reflects the situation before the 1871 Bradford map, say about 1867 at the time Exchange Station received its name. The map shows Threadneedle Street which no longer exists and also the Neptune Inn. I don’t know much about the Neptune Inn. The first reference to it I can find is from 1840 when Anne Haley of Bridge Street, the wife of the occupant, died. The location of the inn, or at least the address, may have changed since in 1849 her widower, Elisha Haley, was being offered compensation by the Lancashaire & Yorkshire Railway for loss of the remaining lease. Elisha had been at the Neptune Inn since 1837 and his witness statement to the Bradford magistrates (The Bradford Observer October 4, 1849) reveals a good deal about running a mid-nineteenth century pub. He seems to have been brewing himself and if I have done the calculations correctly he was selling nearly 70,000 pints of beer per quarter, and 350 gallons of gin yearly which was diluted down to proof with water. Elisha received £260, and the furniture. The Neptune’s subsequent address is 2 York Street and it is still mentioned well after the likely date of this map, for example in the 1880 PO Directory when the landlady was Ann Deighton. The size of the development should mean there are several other purchase maps of this type dealing with adjacent areas. Dixon and Hindle were well-known Bradford land agents and surveyors who were responsible for many of the maps in the LSL collection. In 1850 Thomas Dixon practised at Bridge Street Buildings. By 1880 Dixon & Hindle were in partnership at 24 Bank Street. If you are interested in the enlargement of the railway lines into Bradford then the change is reflected between the first (1851) and the second (1889) OS maps of the city.