Bradford City Heritage Trail

Archaeological evidence shows people were living in the moorlands around Bradford in prehistoric times. By the Iron Age, over 2500 years ago, a tribe called the Brigantes lived in this area and built many Hill Forts. The Romans also lived here during their 400-year occupation of Britain, but we cannot be exactly sure where or when.

In around 500AD, Anglo-Saxon invaders started raiding the country. Some settled locally in a valley where three streams met. A small village known as ‘broad ford’ grew up around the crossing point of one stream – which is how Bradford got its name. This stream called Bradford Beck still runs beneath the city today. These early Saxon settlers lived in simple wooden houses. Later, a wooden chapel was also built here, probably by Christian missionaries from Dewsbury.

After the Norman invasion of 1066, the North of England rebelled against the rule of William the Conqueror. In turn William ordered his army to destroy many northern settlements.  The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded Bradford as ‘waste’. This term was often used to describe places the army had passed through. The land was then given to William’s supporter, Ilbert de Lacy.

Medieval Bradford grew up around a central church and three main streets called Ivegate, Kirkgate and Westgate. It became a town when it was allowed to hold a weekly market. Close to Bradford Beck there was a mill to grind corn into flour and a fulling mill, where cloth was finished for sale. The legend of the  fierce boar , which appears on Bradford’s coat of arms, originates from this time.

In Tudor times, the population of Bradford increased to over 2,000 people and the town became more prosperous.  The cloth-making industry expanded and focused on producing coarse ‘kersey cloth’ made of wool. Most people farmed just enough food for their own needs and families made money weaving cloth by hand at home. Other growing industries included shoemaking and the manufacture of iron. By 1548, Bradford had a grammar school and some wealthy people were living in two-storey stone houses –  Bolling Hall  being the largest and most notable.

The English Civil War (1642–1651) badly damaged Bradford and slowed down its growth. Cloth-making later became the town’s chief industry, though the type of woollen cloth in production changed from ‘kersey’ to ‘worsted’ – a finer cloth for suits and dresses.

The cloth trade was helped when the turnpike toll road between Manchester and Leeds opened in 1734, enabling faster travel by stagecoach. The cost of transporting wool, cloth and limestone also fell dramatically when the Bradford Canal was linked up to the Leeds to Liverpool Canal in 1777. The town’s first factory opened in 1794 for spinning yarn.

By the first half of the 19th century, Bradford was the fastest growing town in England, as people moved here to work in its textile mills. The switch from water to steam power gave the town, with its large coal reserves, a huge advantage. The arrival of the railway from Leeds to Skipton in 1846 helped too. Bradford had become ‘Worstedopolis’, a world-famous cloth-making capital. However, living and working conditions in Bradford were harsh and it gained the reputation for being the ‘dirtiest town in the country’.

In 1853, the successful mill owner Titus Salt moved his workforce to the outskirts of Bradford, where the air was cleaner. He created the village of Saltaire complete with new houses, a school, library and hospital, so that the Salts Mill workers and their families could live a better life. Many splendid buildings were built in the centre of Bradford during this period, as part of the towns growing 'Civic Pride'. The buildings include the Town Hall (1873), Art Gallery (1879), General Post Office (1886) and Midland Hotel (1890), amongst others. The town’s sanitation and living conditions also greatly improved.  

Bradford’s prosperity was fuelled by the ‘war effort’ at the start of the 20th century. The Alhambra Theatre opened in 1914 and is named after a famous palace in Granada, Spain. The cloth-making industry had slumped after 1918, but the Second World War reversed this decline. A lack of workers became a big problem for the mill owners, who began recruiting migrant workers from Eastern Europe, India and Pakistan. New industries, such as the car manufacturing company Jowett, developed at this time, as well as banking, insurance and local government services. Later in the century, engineering, food manufacture, chemicals, digital technology and media companies became established, too.

21st-century Bradford enjoys a richness of cultures. New buildings reflect the faiths and interests of the population. These include the Grand Mosque, opened in 2014 – one of the largest in the country. In 2022, Bradford was crowned UK City of Culture 2025. The title was awarded in recognition of Bradford’s reputation as a young and vibrant city with a rich heritage. Bradford’s impressive bid drew upon its wide range of local cultural assets including the Brontë Parsonage, Saltaire UNESCO World Heritage Site and the National Science and Media Museum.