Eccleshill is an area, former village, and
ward within the
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the
county of
West Yorkshire,
England.
The ward population of Eccleshill is 17,540,[2] increasing at the 2011 Census to 17,945.[1]
Eccleshill is a more or less completely residential urban area with very little open space[2] although there is substantial open land directly to the east.
The origins of the name Eccleshill are uncertain.
At the time of the Domesday Book the area was known as Egleshill either meaning 'eagles hill'[3]
or perhaps named after a
Saxon landlord called Aikel or Eckil—alternatively it could mean Ecclesiastical Hill.[4]
History
In Roman times the Eccleshill area was crossed by two lanes.
One lane was along what is now Norman Lane and the other to
Apperley Bridge down the road now known as Bank.[4]
After the
Norman Conquest the lands of Eccleshill were given to William, Earl of Warren.[3]
In 1274 ownership of lands passed to the Sheffields and in 1407 to the Bolling family of Calverley then the Scargills, Saviles, Wyatts, Zouches, Stanhopes, Hirds, and then to Jeremiah Rawson.[3]
In the
Middle Ages Eccleshill was shunned by church authorities after a supposed incident in which it is said a
preacher or
monk was
stoned to death on the main road though Eccleshill village.[4]
This supposed incident is said to be the reason behind naming the main road 'Stony Lane'.
The real explanation may be that either the road was stony or that it led on to Stone Hall.
Eccleshill Hall
In 1713 Eccleshill Hall was built for Dr Stanhope, located to the east of Stony Lane at the site of previous Eccleshill Halls, on what is now Victoria Road.[3]
Eccleshill hall was demolished in 1878 and all that remains are parts of stone gateposts embedded in a roadside wall.[4]
Church history
Initially the churches built in Eccleshill were
nonconformist.
Before 1775 the only place of worship in Eccleshill was The Quaker Meeting House on Tunwell Lane.[5]
In 1775 Prospect Chapel also known as Bank Top Chapel a Wesleyan Chapel was constructed on Lands Lane off Norman Lane.[6]
In 1776
MethodistJohn Wesley (1703-1791) preached there.[6]
On the opposite side of Norman Lane is Prospect Chapel burial ground, created in 1823.[4]
Doctrinal disagreement led to a split and the establishment in 1823 of Salem Independent Chapel.[5]
Salem Chapel and
Sunday school both now demolished, were built on Dobby Row, an event that was to prompt the renaming of the street to Chapel Street.[4]
The Chapel Street chapel was eventually replaced by the Congregational Church on Victoria Road near Harrogate Road, built in 1889.[5]
Salem Chapel burial ground remains on Chapel Street.[4]
The Congregational Church was demolished in the 1960s and the United Reformed Church, a single storey building built on the site in 1967 and the Congregational Church building was demolished in 1979/80.[5]
A further split at Prospect Chapel had led to the establishment of Eccleshill United Methodist Chapel on the corner of Workhouse fold now named Stewart Close.[5]
In 1854 the remaining worshippers of Prospect Chapel built Eccleshill Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Stony Lane and sold Prospect Chapel.[5]
The old Prospect Chapel building had many subsequent uses including as an organ works.[3]
When congregations shrank at the Wesleyan Methodist Church on Stony Lane worshippers moved to join the Primitive Methodist Chapel built in 1911 on Norman Lane to become Eccleshill Methodist Church.[5]
The Eccleshill Methodist Church has now been demolished and there are plans to replace it with
apartments.
The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was sold in 1965 then became the Ukrainian
Autocephalic Orthodox Church.[5][7]
The former Prospect Chapel* (1775), Lands Lane
Prospect Chapel Burial Ground (1823), Norman Lane
The Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church* (1854), Stony Lane.
St. Luke's Church (1848), Harrogate Road
Eccleshill Methodist Church (1911-2016), Norman Lane
Eccleshill United Reformed Church, Victoria Road
Construction of St. Lukes church was ordered by the Rev
William Scoresby, Vicar of Bradford[3]
and this was consecrated in 1848.
It was designed in a vertical
Gothic style with a spire, however, the spire was removed circa 1971 when the stonework began crumbling.[4]
The ecclesiastical parish of Eccleshill takes in
Greengates, and
Apperley Bridge south of the
River Aire.
Industrial, commercial and transport history
The quarrying, pottery, spinning and weaving industries have been located in the area for some time but only quarrying remains today.
Wool and mills
Eccleshill has a number of mills.
The Old Mill on Victoria Road was a woollen mill built in 1800 but was destroyed by fire in 1816.[8]
The present building on the site is dated 1863 although parts of it date back to the early 1800s.
On the other side of Victoria Road from the Old Mill is a row of houses and street once known as Dobby Row - a dobby being a type of
cloth, a type of
loom or part of an early form of
weaving loom taking its name from a corruption of the words 'draw boy' - a weaving assistant.[4]
In around 1816 Union Mill on Harrogate Road was constructed for the manufacture of woollens.[4]
From 1892 to 1983 John Pilley and Sons owned and operated the mills[9]
A further three storey mill building known as Pilley's Mill was added to the south of the site.
Union Mills had a serious fire in 1905.[10]
In 2019 both mills were demolished and the site cleared to make way for a retail complex.
In the 1838 White's Directory Eccleshill is described as engaged in the manufacture of white woollen cloth.[3]
In 1872 Tunwell Mill was built by Messrs Smith and Hutton as a woollen mill[3] near Tun Well (Town Well) directly south of Stony Lane—although today's Tunwell Mills are not the original mill building.
At the north end of Stone Hall Road is a mill variously known as Stone Hall Shed and Whiteley's Mill where worsted was manufactured.[11]
Halfway down Stone Hall Road off to the west stood Victoria Mill, a worsted mill.
This mill has been demolished and domestic properties now stand on the site.[4]
Union Mills / Pilley's Mill building (demolished 2019), Harrogate Road
Moorside Mills building (1875), Moorside Road
Pottery
In 1837, the Manor Pottery was established by Jeremiah Rawson, lord of the manor on a site east of the Undercliffe Road-Pullan Avenue junction using beds of shale, fireclay and coal at a deep quarry near Bolton Junction[3][8][15]
at a site now partly occupied by Kents Fitness Gym.
There was a rail tunnel under Leeds Road, then known as Pottery Lane, with waggons carrying clay and minerals from the quarry to the pottery on the other side of the road.[3]
Manor Pottery produced a salt glazed brown stoneware, household utensils, brown and cream crockery, ornaments, garden vases, busts, and statuettes although these did not bear any distinguishing marks.[4][8][15][16]
Although the product stood comparison with other local wares, the local market for pottery was eventually supplied by better and cheaper stoneware from Staffordshire, and by 1867 the pottery had been sold to William Woodhead and production switched over to house bricks, firebricks and sewer pipes.[3][15][16]
The kilns were shut down in the early 20th century, and in 1921 the chimney was demolished,[3][15]
however the manor house still remains.[3][17]
Coal pits
There were numerous coal pits in what is now the Thorpe Edge and Ravenscliffe areas of the Eccleshill ward.
This coal was required for steam powered machinery and the pottery.
Unfortunately the digging of the coal pits caused many local water wells to run dry.
Eccleshill Mechanics' Institute
Eccleshill
Mechanics' Institute on Stone Hall Road was built in 1868.[18]
Charles Bottomley converted the upper floor of the Eccleshill Mechanics' Institute into a 359-seat picture hall which he named Eccleshill Picture House and then opened in 1911.[19]
Shortly after this the cinema was renamed 'Picture Palace' but closed in 1931 never running any '
talkies'.[3][19]
Before construction of the building the institute used to meet in the now demolished school buildings at the western end of Chapel Street on a site now occupied by Eccleshill Victoria Conservative Club.
Shopping
For the last two hundred years the shopping centre for Eccleshill has been Stony Lane and it was here that Henry Sparks, founder of Sparks Bakeries, had his first shop.[3] The last butchers in the village formerly the William Hudson & Son has now been converted into a micro pub called the Greedy Pig.
Transport history
In 1804 the
Dudley Hill to
Killinghallturnpike was constructed.[3]
Parts of this are now Killinghall Road and Harrogate Road.
In 1889 Mill Lane, Town Lane and Town Street were renamed Victoria Road to mark the
Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria that year.[4]
The tram service came from central Bradford up Bolton Road then Stone Hall Road to a terminus in front of the Eccleshill Mechanics Institute.[3]
The tram service also went along Harrogate road to Greengates but because of the low rail bridge at Eccleshill Station only low profile double decker trams and buses could get under.[20]
In 1874 the
Great Northern Railway opened its Laisterdyke - Shipley branch (the
Shipley and Windhill line), a six-mile double track branch line from Quarry Gap junction in
Thornbury to
Shipley and Windhill railway station, passing
Eccleshill,
Idle and
Thackley railway stations.[21]Eccleshill railway station opened in 1875 with its sidings and coal yard.[18]
This was located just north of the rail bridge crossing over Harrogate Road.
Only the embankment and abutment of one side of the rail bridge remain.[4]
The former Station Hotel on Harrogate Road took its name from its proximity to the railway station.
The railway station closed to passengers in 1931 although goods traffic continued on the line until 1964.[22]
Subsequently, the line was taken up and the bridge demolished.
The Palladium/Regal cinema
In 1928 Ralph Dickinson created the purpose-built 1,000 seat Palladium Cinema on Norman Lane, opened in 1929.[19]
Later the cinema changed ownership and in 1931 the new owner John Lambert altered the name to Regal.[19]
In 1958 the cinema closed for refurbishment and updating, and reopened later that year, but closed finally in 1966.[19]
Later with the construction of an extra internal floor the building was used as a
bingo hall, a
snooker hall and then a
fitness centre.[19]
Schools history
The school on Fagley Lane was built in 1845.[4]
The school in Chapel Street (1875) was declared unsuitable in 1884 and to replace it the Central Board School was built on Victoria Road in 1887 on the site of the old Eccleshill Hall.[3]
In 1889 the Central Board School was renamed Hutton School after the chairman of the School Board.[3]
The school was attended by world-famous artist David Hockney.
After a period as a fitness centre the building was demolished in 2016 to make way for housing.
Geography
Eccleshill is bounded in the east by
Pudsey and Fagley Beck— flowing a short distance directly north under the name Carr Beck to meet the
River Aire.
To the north of Eccleshill is the village of
Idle and to the north east is
Greengates and in the
City of Leeds is
Calverley.
To the east across Fagley Beck is
Pudsey in the City of Leeds and to the south east
Bradford Moor.
To the south is the ward of
Undercliffe and round to the south west
Bolton.
To the west is Swain House estate and to the north west Idle Moor and
Wrose.
Fagley
Fagley is an area to the south-east of Eccleshill ward.
The local economy includes a sandstone quarry,[23]
and a riding school.[24]
Most of the shops including the post office are on Fagley Road running east–west.[25]
Fagley no longer has any public houses.[26]
The local school is Fagley Primary School[27]
and in the east of Fagley is the Fagley Youth and Community Centre.[28]
Further east is Fagley Beck and the
Leeds Country Way bridle path and the border with
Pudsey.[29]
Ravenscliffe is a housing estate in the north-east of Eccleshill.
In Ravenscliffe is a sub post office[30]
and The Gateway Community and Children's Centre[31]
and the
Eccleshill Adventure Playground.
Landmarks
At the junction of Stony Lane and Victoria Road by the roadside was the 19th century
lock-up and a public urinal, however these have been walled up for some considerable time.
The lock-up and urinal are now over-topped by a section of raised stone paved pavement with railings known as 'The Monkey Bridge'[3]
overlooking a small triangular area of land at the road junction that was the site of the village
stocks.
North of Stony Lane is the former Stoney Lane Quarry now a recreation ground known as The Delph, a grassed area with a fenced children's play ground and
triangulation pillar.[32]
South of Stony Lane is a grassed recreation ground or common with Village Green Status.
Cricket and football were played here but more suitable grounds became available.[3]
Eccleshill War Memorial is on the northern side[33]
and to the south of the Recreation Ground on Moorwell Place is a terrace of listed former weavers' houses[34]
and a
bowling green.
There are many historic wells in Eccleshill, e.g. Moor Well, and Tun Well however there is a Holy Well covered by a manhole cover, located in a private garden off Harrogate Road opposite the end of Ravenscliffe Avenue, close to the site of
Eccleshill Railway Station.
This historic well and its associated grove dates back to Roman times.[35]
The Eccleshill (Swimming) Pool is located on Harrogate Road towards Greengates.[36]
To the east of Harrogate Road can be found the Eccleshill NHS Treatment Centre,[37]
and playing fields.
East of the playing fields is the Eccleshill Community Hospital,[38]
Eccleshill Park—an area of grassland, and the
Eccleshill Adventure Playground.[39]
Eccleshill has four
post offices, one on Harrogate Road, one in Fagley and others in Ravenscliffe and Thorpe Edge.
There is also a driving test centre on Victoria Road.[40]
Eccleshill Police Station is not in Eccleshill ward but just outside in
Idle.[41]
At the western end of Norman Lane is Enterprise 5, a large shopping centre with a
Morrisons supermarket together with
Poundland,
Poundstretcher,
Pets at Home and
Pure Gym and other shops.[42]
Eccleshill has a number of public houses particularly along Victoria Road and Norman Lane, however several public houses along Harrogate Road have closed in recent years.[43]
Eccleshill's listed buildings include private houses on Moorside Road,[44]
the Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox church, a public house and a private house on Stony Lane,[45]
private houses on Stone Hall Road and Back Stone Hall Road,[46]
listed farmhouses and former farmhouses on Fagley Lane and Fagley Road,[47]
listed three-storey former weavers' houses (1851–54) on Moorwell Place,[34]
and a listed former Wesleyan chapel (1775) on Lands Lane.[48]
and the Manor House off Leeds Road.[17]
Terrace of former weavers houses in Moorwell Place
In the south of Eccleshill off Moorside Road close to Fagley is the
Bradford Industrial Museum in what was Moorside Mills.[13][49]
This museum houses machinery from local textile and printing industries and has a row of workers houses.
It used to house the popular Horses at Work exhibition but this has now closed.[50]
Churches
Originally built in 1854 as a Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox church is the only listed church building in Eccleshill.[7]
Tucked behind this church is a former Wesleyan Sunday School of 1885,[4] now residential accommodation.
St. Francis' Catholic Church, Norman Lane
The Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church* (1854), Stony Lane.
St. Luke's Church (1848), Harrogate Road
St. Clare's Catholic Church, Fagley Road
Governance
Eccleshill was an independent township up until 1899 when along with
Thornton,
Tong,
Idle and North Bierley it joined with Bradford.[3][18]
As of 2004, Eccleshill ward includes the south-east quadrant of
Greengates, Thorpe Edge housing estate, part of Five Lane Ends, Bank Top, the eponymous Eccleshill, Fagley and the
Ravenscliffe housing estate.[2]
Councillors
Eccleshill electoral ward is represented on
Bradford Council by three
Liberal Democrat councillors, Geoff Reid, Nicola Pollard and Brendan Stubbs.[51]
Along the south-western end of Victoria Road is the Victoria Industrial Estate including The Old Mill and a variety of commercial and light industrial units.[52]
Work has begun on the creation of 589 homes on the former sandstone quarry near Fagley.
A
Lidl supermarket and
Starbucks have been built on an as yet unfinished retail park on the now demolished Union Mills/Pilleys Mill site.
Education
Cavendish Primary school, Saint Brendan's primary school, to the west in Swain House is the
Hanson Academy. Hutton Middle school was demolished to make way of housing, although the caretakers house still remains.
Also demolished was Eccleshill Upper school and a replacement school was built in Thackley called Emmanuel college.
Ashcroft Doctor's surgery, Eccleshill Hospital (not A&E) and Inspire business park was built in place on the old Eccleshill Upper school grounds.
Eccleshill Public Library is on Bolton Road.[53]
In Fagley on Falsgrave Road is Fagley primary school.
Eccleshill was the first township to elect a School Board in the land, following Edward Forsters Education Act of 1871. The School Board built three schools; Greengates, Wellington and the Central Board School; later named Hutton School after John Hutton who was Chair of the School Board for over 25 years and who bought and donated the land for and contributed to the building of the Central Board School. Both Hutton School and Wellington Schools were demolished to make way for new housing developments. The Greengates school building only remains - as of 2022 it remained unlisted.
Transport
The area is served by the
First Bradford 640, 641 and 645 Green Line and A2 airport bus services.
The main roads through the area are the north–south
A658 Harrogate Road, and the
A6176 Bolton Road—Pullan Avenue.
The Eccleshill Village Fair is held annually in The Delph, a grassed over former Stoney Lane Quarry north of Stony Lane.[56]
The spelling of Stoney/Stony Lane is contentious even today although older maps favour the Stoney spelling.
Artist
David Hockney (b. 1937) grew up in Eccleshill.[57]
TV presenter, journalist, and game show host
Richard Whiteley (1943–2005) was born in Eccleshill into a family of mill owners, and lived there in his youth.[11]
The company was Thomas Whiteley & Co. (1889–1963) worsted manufacturers[11]
based in mill premises off Stone Hall Road.
TV presenter and journalist
Christa Ackroyd (b. 1957) and actor
Duncan Preston (b. 1946) were born in Eccleshill.[58]
^"Eccleshill War Memorial". Bradford Parks & Landscape Service.
Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
^
ab"1-23 Moorwell Place". British Listed Buildings.
Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
^Bennett, Paul (12 September 2008).
"Holy Well, Eccleshill". The Northern Antiquarian.
Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
^"Eccleshill Pool". Bradford Metropolitan District Council. 2009. Archived from
the original on 20 November 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^"Eccleshill Library". City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. 2009. Archived from
the original on 18 November 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^Bailey, Peter (2004).
"Studholme, Marie (1872–1930)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
^"Don Brennan". ESPN cricinfo.
Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 382.
ISBN978-1-905080-85-4.