The degree to which an area of Bradford is represented in historic maps varies. To feature frequently the location should have been the site of many land sales, road creations or episodes of litigation: all these events generated plans. The area which today is west of Godwin Street and the City Park, and between Sunbridge Road and Thornton Road, is very extensively covered in the Local Studies Library Reserve map collection. It would be possible to reconstruct its entire history throughout the nineteenth century using reserve collection maps, although I don’t plan anything quite so ambitious at present. Here I suggest we simply looking at a decade of changes.

The first map is a beautifully drawn example and can provide an illustration of the techniques used to date a map, and divine its purpose. It has clearly been printed and tinted, but superimposed over the central section is an added street grid. It is quite possible that some years separated the two events. I think it is reasonable to assume that this was a sale plan which originally accompanied a printed catalogue. The only note I can find reads ‘Godfrey Wright, Joseph Smith, 1828’: could this be correct?

Joseph Smith was a well-known early nineteenth century surveyor, but where we are? The Soke Mill, once employed by the Lord of the Manor, is a good starting point. Water is clearly supplied to the Soke Mill from a dam, and this in turn by a goit from the Bradford Beck. The ‘foot road’ that accompanies the goit is what we would know today as Goitside. The beck is the broader watercourse and an overspill channel connects the dam to it. The turnpike road is modern Thornton Road (created around 1825), and Ivegate, Westgate, Great Horton Lane, Little Horton Lane, and Bowling Lane (now Manchester Road) are all clearly drawn.

A selection of the ‘Inns of Old Bradford’ are included. We have the Beehive, the Bulls Head, and the Sun Inn. The New Inn is off Tyrrell Street and was once noted, strangely, for being the location of the first flower show in Bradford, held in 1827. Were any of these supplied by Thompsons Brewery with its fine Bowling Green? The names of these hostelries would fit the situation in the 1820s, at which time the Beehive had only just changed its name from the Horse & Jockey.

We can help date the map by the landowners. One of these is Ellis Cunliffe Lister (father of Samuel), and the map must pre-date his death in 1853.  Richard Fawcett was probably the Bradford textile magnet, closely connected with the St Blaise Festival, who died earlier in 1845 (but could just possibly be his son of the same name who died 1885). Most helpfully ‘Captain Gilpin’ had evidently died recently. Captain Gilpin, who was the heir of Hannah Gilpin Sharp of Horton Hall, enjoyed his estates for three years only. He died at Madeira in the year 1826, without ever having been married. The given map date of 1828 would certainly fit with this situation.

The detail from a second map is fascinating. It is undated, but purports to show all properties in Bradford owned by Rev. Godfrey Wright. From my knowledge of the ways in which he inherited his property, this map must post-date 1815 although, on stylistic grounds, perhaps not by many years. This is confirmed by the image of the long-vanished Christ Church (constructed in 1815) still being referred to as the ‘New’ Church. Having made a comparison I think then that Wright’s ownership of the land recorded in the first map must be correct.

The alignment of the two maps is not identical but I am sure that you can see that in this second and earlier map the Thornton Road turnpike has not yet been constructed. In this map the Soke Mill is not so obvious but can be seen enclosed by a double cross bar of a capital ‘H’ formed by the watercourses.

If you return to the first map its next difficulty is provided by the rather sketchily drawn new roads leading off the turnpike. The one nearest Tyrrell Street must be Aldermanbury. The next two must be Wade Street and Lee Street, but Wade Street did not cross Goitside. Tetley Street does follow approximately this route, but to construct it as drawn would have involved the demolition of the Old Beehive Inn.

So, what happened next? The final map shows the definitive late Victorian block plan of this part of the borough. Note the later creation of Godwin Street. The Town (later City) Hall has been constructed, so this map post-dates 1873, say 50 years after the date of the first map. What has continued to happen since I shall leave you to work out for yourselves.