BRADFORD (GREAT), a market-town and parish
in the hundred of BRADFORD, county of WILTS, 8
miles (S. B.) from Bath, 3 if (N. W.) from Salisbury,
and 102 (W. by S.) from London, containing with the
chapelries of Atworth, Holt, Winsley with Limpley-
Stoke, and South Wraxall, and the tything of Leigh-
Wooley, 10,231 inhabitants. This place, from a ford
over the river Avon, was called by the Saxons Bradenford,
of which its present name is a contraction. During
the Octarchy, a battle took place here, between
Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons, and a formidable
party of his own subjects, who had rebelled against
him, under the command of his kinsman Cuthred,
when the latter were defeated with great slaughter.
In 706, Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, founded an
abbey at this place, which he dedicated to St. Lawrence,
and which, after its destruction by the Danes,
was rebuilt and converted into a nunnery, by Ethelred,
who annexed it to a larger establishment of the
same kind at Shaftesbury, in 1001. The town is
beautifully situated on the acclivity of a steep hill,
forming part of a line of eminences on the northern
side of the river Avon, over which are an ancient bridge
of four, and a modern bridge of nine, arches, both affording
a most agreeable prospect. The view of the
town, which consists of three regular streets ranged
above each other at different elevations on the side of
the hill, is strikingly picturesque: the houses, built of
stone, are in general handsome, and many of them
elegant;. and the inhabitants are amply supplied with
water from springs. Various designs have recently been
carried into effect for the improvement of the town:
some of the streets have been widened, and considerable
alterations have been made for the furtherance of
business. A book society and a news-room have been
recently established, and are well supported. The
principal branch of manufacture is that of woollen
cloth, which is said by Leland to have flourished in the
reign of Henry VIII., particularly that composed of
the finer kind of Spanish and Saxony wool, for the
dyeing of which the water of the river is peculiarly
favourable. There are numerous factories, affording employment
to many men, women, and children, in the
town and neighbourhood. Ladies' cloth, kerseymere,
and fancy pieces, are also manufactured to a considerable
extent. Scribbling-mills and spinning-jennies were
introduced about forty years since, and their adoption
in the several factories excited great discontent
among the workmen, several lives having been lost in
the disturbances that ensued. The Rennet and Avon
canal, which affords an increased facility of conveyance
to various parts of the kingdom, and has contributed
to the advancement of its prosperity, passes close to the
town, and a commodious wharf has been constructed on
its bank. The market is on Saturday: the fairs are on
Trinity-Monday, and on the day after St. Bartholomew's
day; the latter is held at Bradford-Leigh, a hamlet in
the parish.
Bradford sent members to parliament in the 23r
of Edward I., but since that time it has made no return.
The petty sessions are held here alternately with
Trowbridge; and a court of requests for the recovery of
debts under £5, the jurisdiction of which extends over,
the hundreds of Bradford, Melksham, and Whorwelsdown,
is held, under an act passed in the 47th of George
III., every third Tuesday, alternately with Trowbridge.
and Melksham. A small oratory on the south-westera
side of the bridge, formerly belonging to the monastery
of St. Lawrence, has been converted into a place of confinement
for offenders, previously to their committal to
the county gaol. The living is a discharged vicarage,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Salisbury, rated in
the king's books at £10. 1. 3., and in the patronage of
the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The church, dedicated
to the Holy Trinity, is a spacious handsome struc-.
ture; it suffered greatly from fire in 1742, and has .undergone
extensive repair; the windows contain some
modern stained glass, and the altar is embellished with
a good painting of the Last Supper; within are several
stately monuments of marble. There are two places of
worship each for Baptists and Independents, and one
each for the Society of Friends, those in the connexion,
of the late Countess of Huntingdon, Wesleyan Methodists,
and Unitarians. A free school for sixty boys is
endowed with an estate at Holt, purchased with £250'
given by Mr. Francis Smith; and with the dividends
on £240 three per cents., given in 1805, by Mr.John
Shawbridge, who also bequeathed £400 in the same,
stock,- directing the interest to be distributed annually,
in crowns and half-crowns, among the poor. There are
two almshouses, one founded by Mr. John Hall, for aged
men, the other for aged women; they are supposed to
have been an appendage to the monastery, of which, and'
also of other religious establishments formerly existing
here, there are still some slight remains. Many curious
fossils have been found in the quarries adjoining the town.