X47    CLA c.1840 PLA

Size: 14” * 18”      Material: Paper

Date: unk             Scale: unk

The index card associated with this plan simply describes it as ‘an MS sketch plan’, but there is no other information whatever. I assume my unknown predecessor is suggesting that it represents a hand-drawn sketch based on another map, and this interpretation seems very plausible. There appear to be some misspellings and the identifying label ‘Clayton Heights’ still has construction lines to aid the ink lettering, which was possibly added later to a completed plan. The plan shows a much wider area than simply Clayton Village itself.

Clayton itself is a very old community whose name appears in the Domesday Book. It is assumed that ‘clay’ describes the nature of the soil, without necessarily implying it was the basis of a pottery industry. There was a brief period in the eighteenth century when it was linked with my own township as ‘Heaton cum Clayton’, but it was incorporated into Bradford at a fairly late date, in 1930.

With no other information available, what can I say about the date and purpose of this plan? There are other maps from this general location in the Local Studies Library reserve collection, but they are all late nineteenth century in date, and reflect works such as the construction of railways or reservoirs. This plan is clearly much earlier. We may have similar maps at the LSL but examination of the public collection is still inhibited by Covid regulations.

One clue is that Queensbury is described as ‘Quinshead’, this being a surprising misspelling of Queenshead, an earlier name applied to the township between Halifax and Bradford which is one of the highest parishes in England. Another is the absence of the parish church of St John, Clayton, which would be situated (after 1851) approximately where the numeral 60 is positioned in Clayton village. So, we are probably looking at a plan drawn in the first half of the nineteenth century.

What we have closely resembles the first Ordnance Survey map of the area surveyed in the late 1840s. The OS map is of greater value to students of industry since it marks the position of quarries and coal pits, which our plan does not. Other concerns, like the malt kiln immediately west of Coghill Row, are drawn on our plan but not named.

The plan is a good guide to local topographical names. Some seem a little strange: ‘Hole Bottom’, for example off Clayton Lane, which was later the site of Julius Whitehead’s famous brickworks. Another striking example is Van Diemen’s Land (or Lane) near Queenshead. The name of this colony and penal settlement was changed to Tasmania in 1856.

Sadly, no dateable landowners’ names are included, and unfortunately I cannot yet explaining the meanings of the numbers and ticks. Local historian Ken Kenzie suggests that the plan is a working copy of the tithe map for Clayton. Certainly the boundaries of the two plans would appear to be co-terminus, so that is a plausible suggestion.

If you would like to know more about the history of Clayton I would suggest the work of the Clayton History Group. Their website address is:Clayton History Group – CLAYTON HISTORY GROUP (e-voice.org.uk)