X39   BRA c.1850 MET

Size: 19” * 27”             Material: Paper

Scale: 10’ to 1”             Condition: Good

This plan is undated but the area between Charles Street and Market Street was fully developed by the time of the first OS map, which probably post-dates it. The OS map was published in 1852 but is thought to be based on surveys conducted in the late 1840s, a little later than Bradford becoming a borough in 1847. The area looks very much the same on the 1849 and 1851 Bradford maps, but very different in the 1834 Bradford map, although this is drawn to a different scale. There are small distinctions between our plan and the first OS map. Bradford Beck is not on the surface in the OS map, although it is in our plan (with a boiler over it in part).

Swaine Street existed as early as 1837 and connected Well Street to Leeds Road via Charles Street, Booth Street and Collier Gate. The appellations are mostly family names of the Rev. Godfrey Wright, once the landowner in this area. In the eighteenth century a man called Charles Booth was a wealthy young barrister, and son of Elizabeth Swaine and Rev Charles Booth I (d.1761). He changed his name to Charles Swaine Booth after inheriting from his ‘aunt’ who I believe was a Mary Swaine of nearby Hall Ings. By this means he obtained the whole of the Booth and Swaine inheritances, but he had one more piece of financial luck to come. Charles Swaine Booth married Hannah Gilpin Sharp (inheritor of the Sharp estate) in 1769. The couple lived together at Horton Old Hall. How Godfrey Wright eventually inherited all his property in the early nineteenth century is still slightly mysterious, but he was evidently from the same family.

The main business shown by the plan is the ‘Swan Inn’. This is described by William Scruton (in Pen & Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford) as the White Swan. He reports that it was comfortable and busy: he even provides a sketch which I have reproduced. It was the house of call for a coach, the ‘Highflyer’, that visited the town. Scruton says that the host was a Mr Bradford who was a noted publican, but he does not give a date for Mr Bradford’s occupation. Interestingly there is a barber of that surname on our plan. I assume that the future proprietor of the White Swan was Charles William Bradford, but he was a 27 year old ‘innkeeper’ of Kirkgate, at the time of the 1851 census. ‘Mine host’ at the White Swan in the same census (and the Ibbotsen 1850 Directory) was one Richard Gott Fox aged 50, so he is the likely incumbent at the time of our plan.

The courtyard structure of the buildings is very typical of Bradford at that date. What makes our plan of particular interest is the breakdown provided of property functions. Warehouses are plausible enough, but we also have a small mill, identified as belonging to John Ramsden, in the centre of town. A large quantity of stabling is provided for the White Swan Inn, which strongly suggests that the hostelry did not exclusively cater for a local clientele. The brewhouse demonstrates that they produced their own beer. Finally, we have a group of small tradespeople: two barbers, a currier (leather-worker), an auctioneer, and a grocer.

At first sight the property owner concerned, R.W. William Esquire, does not seem to have a potentially identifiable name, and he has certainly defeated my limited family history skills. But Leo Schuster (Leo Schuster Brothers & Co – Stuff Merchants) was easier. If any reader would like to help please see what you can do with John Bollans, also identified as a local landowner. James Wilkinson is described as ‘the late’ and obtaining his year of death would help more accurately date the plan, although I couldn’t manage to do that either.

The White Swan was demolished in 1877 to make way for the Swan Arcade. What, in due course, happened to the replacement arcade is just a bit too sad to deal with now. The same consideration applies to Horton Old Hall.