BRADFORD, a parish in the wapentake of MORLEY,
West riding of the county of YORK, comprising the
market-town of Bradford, the chapelries of North Bierley,
Hawarth, Heaton, Horton, Shipley, Thornton, and
Wilsden, and the townships of AUerton, Bowling, Clayton,
Eccleshill, and Manningham, and containing, at
the census of 1821 (since which time the population
has considerably increased), 52,954 inhabitants, of
which number, 13,064 were in the town of Bradford,
34 miles (S. W.) from York, 10 (E. S. E.) from Leeds,
and 196 (N. N.W.) from London. This place derives
its name from a ford on the river Aire, at the western
extremity of the town. During the civil war in the
reign of Charles I., the inhabitants embraced the cause
of the parliament, and on two occasions repulsed a detachment
of the royal troops, sent against them from
the garrison at Leeds. Sir Thomas Fairfax coming
afterwards to their assistance, with eight hundred infantry
and sixty cavalry, the Earl of Newcastle, with a
powerful army, invested the town, and attempted to
storm it in several places. After a vigorous defence,
in which he had spent all his ammunition, Fairfax
offered to capitulate; but the earl refusing the conditions,
he, with .about fifty of his horse, cut his way
through the lines of the royalists, and escaped. The
town is pleasantly situated at the junction of three
beautiful and extensive vallies; the streets, though
narrow, are well paved, and. lighted with gas, under
an act obtained in the 3rd of George IV., subject in
its conditions to one passed in the 43rd of George III.,
for paving, lighting, watching, and improving the town
and neighbourhood. The houses, mostly of stone, and
roofed with brown slate found in the neighbourhood,
are handsome and well built; and the inhabitants are
plentifully supplied with water, conveyed by pipes from
a fine spring at the distance of three miles. The air,
though sharp, is very salubrious; and the neighbourhood
abounds with pleasing and picturesque scenery.
Assemblies are held in rooms in the Exchange, a handsome
building of freestone, recently erected, and containing
also a subscription news-room and a library.
Music meetings of the Philharmonic Society are held
monthly in the Exchange buildings. Bradford is in
the centre of the manufacturing districts, and the inhabitants
are employed principally in the manufacture
of woollen cloth, worsted stuffs, and cotton goods, in
the spinning of worsted yarn, and in making ivory and
horn combs. The neighbourhood abounds with coal
and iron-stone; and about three miles to the south-east
of the town are iron-works on a very extensive scale.
A branch of the Leeds and Liverpool canal has been
brought to this place, and affords great facility to its
commerce. The market is on Thursday: the markethouse
is a handsome stone building, enclosing a spacious
area for the sale of provisions and various kinds
of merchandise. Fairs are held on June 17th and the
two following days; December 9th and the two following
days, for pigs; and March 3rd and 4th, for cattle,
&c. The town is within the jurisdiction of the magistrates
for the West riding; two constables are appointed
annually at a vestry meeting held in the parish
church; a court of requests is held under an act
passed in the 33rd of George III., for the recovery of
debts under 40s.; and a court for the recovery of
debts under £5, within the honour of Pontefract, on
the Wednesday in every third week. The court-house
is a handsome stone building in Darley-street. The
Midsummer quarter sessions for the West riding arc
held in the Piece-hall, a spacious building in Kirkgate,
divided into two apartments, one of which, besides
being used for holding the courts, is for the exhibition
and sale of stuffs and other articles of manufacture,
which are deposited in the other.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £20, and
in the patronage of Richard Fawcett, Esq. The church,
dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient structure in the
decorated style of English architecture. Christ-church,
a chapel of ease erected in 1814, by parliamentary grant,
is a neat building in the decorated style, with a low
tower crowned with pinnacles. There are places of
worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents,
Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, UnitarianH,
and Roman Catholics. The free grammar school, founded
in the reign of Edward VI., and richly endowed,
was rebuilt by act of parliament, in 1818: it is a spacious
and handsome edifice, with a neat house for the
master, and a library for the use of the students. The
management is vested in thirteen governors resident
in the town and neighbourhood; and, by a charter of
Charles II., bearing date October 10th, 1662, the Archbi&
hop of York was constituted visitor. This, is one-of
the twelve schools that have the privilege of sending
candidates for Lady Elizabeth Hastings' exhibitions at
Queen's College, Oxford. The dispensary, a large handsome
building, was erected and is supported by voluntary
contributions. The learned and eloquent Dr. John
Sharp, Archbishop of York in the reign of William III.,
was born at Bradford, in the year 1644.