X21  MAN c.1855 BRA

Size: 21” * 28”

Material: Paper

Scale: unk           Condition: good

The Local Studies Library reserve collection has a considerable number of maps representing land and properties south of Thornton Road, as it nears the city centre east of New Mill Dam. I assume this is because land and businesses there changed hands frequently requiring sale plans to be drawn up at regular intervals.

This particular map is undated, but the situation it portrays would fit the mid-1850s. The Bradford Beck appears on this map at a time when much of this watercourse was flowing at the surface. It is now entirely culverted. The particular value of this plan is that the dates of construction of the various industrial properties are provided. This would be a great help to a local historian wishing to chart the progress of urban development in this location. The latest date added is 1855, which would fit the age already hypothesised for the map. Of interest, but of somewhat less value, are the names of the landowners provided. A good deal of property is owned by two clerics: Rev Godfrey Wright and Rev James Landon. Robert Ackroyd is the largest secular landowner.

The Rev. Godfrey Charles Wright (1780-1862), of Hooton Pagnall, Doncaster, is an almost entirely forgotten figure but was once a major Bradford landowner. He possessed estates in what would later become the city centre, but also at Horton, Manningham, Baildon, Otley, and elsewhere. The Rev. James Landon was much more difficult for me to identify, and I cannot locate him at all in the 1841 census. One possibility is James Landon BD (1783-1850) Vicar of Aberford, or possibly his son (1817-1871) of the same name, the Vicar of Ledsham. Both at least live in Yorkshire but why they should have an interest in any Bradford property I cannot say. Robert Ackroyd is referred to by Cudworth as a mill owner of Field Head Mills who is ‘the late’ by 1858. Comparisons with the first OS map show that the enterprise called ‘Robert Ackroyd’s Mill’ on this map is indeed later known as Field Head Worsted Mill. Cudworth seems to be suggesting that the mill became part of a company called John Smith & Sons. Possibly mill and dye works were united.

The position of the Manningham Soke Mill is indicated on the map but the use of a water-mill to grind the Lord of the Manor of Manningham’s corn, and that of his tenants, must have ceased many years earlier.