2.91        BRA c.1848 PLA       BHM 373 B7

Cartridge paper       Scale: unk

Size: 110*70 cm     Condition: Fair

This is a beautifully drawn map of the east side of Bradford. It is labelled ‘Hall Ings & Part of Bradford: A126’. Essentially it appears to be a fine line ink plan of the Hall Ings, Church Bank, Leeds Road area. The result is very detailed, but there is no date, scale, or annotations of any kind except fine pencil lines. The compass points and the Cathedral (then the Parish Church) are not indicated which makes orientation more difficult. Dating is only possible from building identification. The first Mechanics institute is present so the plan must post-date 1832. The blocks of housing resemble the 1850 OS map (surveyed late 1840s), but the Yorkshire & Lancashire Railway terminus (Exchange Station), which opened in 1850 is not included. On that basis a date of c.1848 is suggested. Could the surveying for this map relate to Bradford becoming a borough in 1847?

The map is too large for anything other than details to be displayed here. The first figure shows a roughly rectangular area at the top. The road to the left is Church Bank, above is Vicar Lane and below Leeds Road. Where the last two join, the Mechanics Institute (1832) faces the Junction Inn. The whole area was the property of Rev. Godfrey Wright and the property adjoining Church Bank included cottages and two smithies. The area had been mined for coal and in another map is called ‘Colliers Close’; it was to become a major part of Little Germany.

In the next figure the roughly vertical road to the left is Bridge Street. Working from the bottom the first thoroughfare would be drastically altered by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Station and evolve into Drake Street (1850). The next horizontal is Hall Ings, the focus of the map. You can see on the corner that St George’s Hall has not yet been constructed as it would be in 1853. This patch of land also belonged to Godfrey Wright, and the pre-existing buildings were demolished to allow the construction of the concert hall and a warehouse next door. In the next plot along Hall Ings the Law Courts (1834) have already been erected. The road crossing the plan from top left to bottom right is a further section of Leeds Road which was constructed c.1825.

The network of streets to the right of Leeds Road shows better in Figure 3. They were not present in the 1834 Bradford Map but must have been laid out soon after. They are another enterprise of Godfrey Wright. From the bottom they are a second section of Hall Ings, Swaine Street, and Brook Street. The network is divided vertically by Charles Steet, Booth Street, and Brown Street. If you follow Swaine Street along then the rather irregular area at the end, between Colliergate and Wells Street, is the Low Moor coal staithe. This shows well in additional map from the Local Studies Library reserve collection (but this on a different orientation).

The coal staithe must have been kept supplied by haulage carts since there is no possibility of tramway connection with the iron works at this location. After 1847 there would be a Swaine Street building which I believe functioned as a fire station, police headquarters and corporation accommodation before the construction of the Town Hall. Most of the blocks in this development are essentially courtyard designs.

The last detail from this map was difficult to identify. It is clearly a large house on Bridge Street with a carriage drive. Its position means that it must have been swept away with the construction of Drake Street Station (so it is missing from the 1849 map) but it cannot be very old since is it not found on the 1802 map. Since, yet again, it is the property of Godfrey Wright I can find it on his estate map as item 17, but here it is rather unhelpfully it is simply called ‘house’. But just possibly its name was indeed ‘The House’ as we shall see.

As maps have failed I moved to the 1841 census of Bridge Street, although I have no definite address. Evidently the big house will not be occupied by a muffin baker, a coffee roaster, a clogger or an iron moulder, and it is surprising to find farmers and coal miners with Bridge Street addresses. There are a number of people ‘of Independent Means’, and there is William Metcalfe – architect, all of whom might have afforded gracious living. John Appleton, surgeon, is living at ‘Bridge House’ with his wife, three children and two servants. He seems the most likely candidate.