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BRADFIELD. 



BRADFORD. 



82 



2157. Brackley sent two members to Parliament from the time of 

 Edward VI. till it was disfranchised by the Reform Act. Brackley 

 Poor-Law Union contains 29 parishes and townships, with an area of 

 53,762 acres, and a population in 1851 of 13,747. 



Brackley is a town of considerable antiquity. It early possessed a 

 large trade in wool. In the seventh year of Edward III. it was 

 required to send up three merchant staplers to a council concerning 

 trade held at Westminster. The town is built on a gentle acclivity 

 on the left bank of one of the head streams of the Ouse here a mere 

 rivulet over which the roadway ia carried by a bridge of two arches. 

 The principal street of Brackley is nearly a mile long ; the houses are 

 mostly constructed of unhewn stone. The town-hall is a handsome 

 building erected in 1706 by Scroop, duke of Bridgewater. The parish 

 church is an ancient edifice. St. James's church, which is regarded 

 as a chupel-of-ea.se, was spoken of in Leland's time as an old church. 

 There are places of worship in the town for Independents and 

 Wesleyan Methodists. The Free Grammar school was founded about 

 1447 by William of Waynfleete. There is also an Infant school. The 

 chapel of an ancient hospital founded in the 1 2th century by Robert 

 BOBSU, earl of Leicester, is still standing, having been repaired about 

 the mid' lie of last century by Mr. John Welchman, who also left funds 

 to provide a stipend for a service in the chapel every alternate Sunday. 

 There are almshouses for six poor widows founded in 1663 by Sir 

 Thomas Crewe. A county court is held at Brackley. There is a 

 manufactory of boots and shoes; pillow-lace is extensively made. 

 The market, of which the first distinct notice is in 1217, is now held 

 on Wednesday for corn. There are nominally five fairs, but the only 

 one of consequence is that held on St. Andrew's Day. 



BRADFIELD, Berkshire, a village and parish, and the seat of a 

 Poor-Law Union, in the hundred of Theale. The village is situated 

 on the Pang brook, here called Kimberhead, which falls into the 

 Thames at Pangbourn, in 51 27' N. lat., 1 7' W. long., 7 miles 

 W. by 8. from Reading, 45 miles W. by S. from London : the popu- 

 lation of the parish in 1851 was 1216 ; of this number 222 were 

 inmates of the Union workhouse. The living is a rectory in the arch- 

 deaconry of Berks and diocese of Oxford. Bradfield Poor-Law Union 

 contains 29 parishes and townships, with an area of 66,635 acres, and 

 a population in 1851 of 16,159. 



The village is pleasantly situated ; the inhabitants are chiefly agri- 

 cultural The church, which has some portions of the Norman and 

 decorated styles, has been rebuilt and enlarged at the expense of the 

 Rev. T. Stevens, the rector and lord of the manor, who has also 

 erected an elegant gothic chapel for the inmates of the Union work- 

 house, and built and endowed a Free school. St. Andrew's College, 

 founded in 1849, of which the rector of the parish is warden, is under 

 the charge of a sub-warden, head and second master, with assistants, 

 and had 36 scholars in 1852. It possesses 3 scholarships of 202. a 

 year for 5 years for sons of clergymen ; and an exhibition of 301 a 

 year for 3 years at Oxford University. There are some parochial 

 charities. The Primitive Methodists have a place of worship at 

 Bradfield. In the neighbourhood are many excellent mansions. 



BRADFORD, GREAT, \Viltshire, a market-town, borough, and the 

 seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Great Bradford and hun- 

 dred of Bradford, is situated on both banks of the Avon, in 51 20' 

 N. lat, 2 14' W. long., distant 12 miles W. from Devizes, 100 miles 

 W. from London by road, and 107 miles by the Great Western rail- 

 way : the population of the town in 1851 was 4240. The living is 

 a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Wilts and diocese of Salisbury. 

 Bradford Poor-Law Union contains 8 parishes and townships, with an 

 area of 19,680 acres, and a population in 1851 of 11,356. 



The name Bradford is a contraction of the Saxon term Bradan- 

 ford, or the ' Broad Ford ;' the town having been built on both aides 

 of the river Avon, where was a broad ford. The town was the site 

 of a monastic institution founded by St. Adhelm, who was himself the 

 abbot until appointed Bishop of Worcester in 705. Bishop Gibson 

 says the monastery was destroyed by the Danes. In 954 the cele- 

 brated St. Dunstan was elected Bishop of Worcester at a synod held 

 at Bradford. Bradford is mentioned among the towns which received 

 from Edward I. the privilege of sending members to Parliament, a 

 privilege which does not appear to have been exercised more than 

 once. 



Bradford is pleasantly situated : the banks of the river below the 

 town abound in beautiful and picturesque scenes, and well-wooded 

 hills rise in some places boldly from the margin of the river. There 

 are here two bridges over the Avon, both of which are of very old 

 date. The houses in Bradford are built with stone, but the streets 

 are with few exceptions narrow. The older part of the town is on 

 the right bank of the Avon, a portion of the buildings being arranged 

 in three streets or terraces on the brow and slope of a hill which rises 

 abruptly from the side of the river. The lower of the terraces is 

 called the New Town. The town is lighted with gas. 



The church, which stands at the foot of the hill, is a large and 

 handsome edifice, partly Norman and partly of the transition period 

 from early English to decorated ; but the greater part is perpendi- 

 cular. A neat district church in the perpendicular style was erected 

 in 1-10, and near it a substantial and commodious school was built, 

 with a house for the master and mistress. There are in the town 

 places of worship tnr Independents, Baptists, and other Dissenters ; a 



0*00. DIV. VOL. 11. 



Free school, opened in 1712; National schools for boys and girls; a 

 British school ; and an Infant school. Two sets of almshouses, 

 besides sundry small benefactions for the relief of the poor, have long 

 existed in Bradford. In the town and neighbourhood are several 

 interesting remains of ecclesiastical edifices. 



The town has for many centuries been noted for its fine broad 

 cloths, which have at all times formed its principal manufacture. A 

 market for corn and cattle is held eveiy alternate Tuesday, and a 

 small weekly market on Saturday for provisions. Bradford possesses 

 a savings bank. A county court is held in the town. 



The prosperity of the place is much promoted by the Kennet and 

 Avon Canal which passes by Bradford, and opens a communication by 

 water with the cities of Bath, Bristol, and London, and with the towns 

 of Trowbridge, Devizes, Hungerford, Reading, &c. There is a station 

 at Bradford belonging to the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth rail- 

 way, but it is not yet in use. An india-rubber factory has been 

 established by Mr. Stephen Moulton, which promises to be of advan- 

 tage to the town. 



BRADFORD, West Riding of Yorkshire, a manufacturing town, 

 parliamentary and municipal borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law 

 Union, in the parish of Bradford and wapentake of Morley, is situated 

 in a valley, in 53 47' N. lat., 1 45' W. long., 34 miles S.W. from 

 York, 196 miles N.N.W. from London by road, and 21 9f miles by the 

 North-Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. The popu- 

 lation of the parliamentary and municipal boroughs, which are co- 

 extensive, was 103,778 in 1851. Bradford returns two members to 

 the Imperial Parliament. The town is governed by 14 aldermen and 

 42 councillors, one of whom is mayor. The living is a vicarage in the 

 archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. Bradford Poor-Law 

 Union, which corresponds in extent and population with the borough, 

 contains an area of 5708 acres. 



Bradford is situated on a small brook which falls into the Aire. 

 This town is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. In Saxon times 

 Bradford formed part of the extensive parish of Dewsbury ; it was 

 afterwards included in the rich barony of Pontefract, which was in 

 the possession of the Laceys. This powerful family had a castle at 

 Bradford. The early history of the town is connected with that of its 

 castle. Alice, the last of the Laceys, married the Earl of Lancaster; 

 and Bradford, in common with the other possessions of her family, 

 went to increase the estates of that duchy. During the civil wars 

 between the Royalists and Parliamentarians, Bradford, which espoused 

 the Parliament cause, held a severe contest with and twice defeated 

 the Royalists. They were however themselves defeated by the Earl 

 of Newcastle, on Adwalton Moor, with immense slaughter. After 

 these wars Bradford made little progress for a long time, and trade 

 was much depressed during the American revolutionary war. In 

 1812 a spirit of insubordination was diffused through the wide and 

 densely-populated district of which Bradford is the centre, in conse- 

 quence of the introduction of certain kinds of machinery ; the riot of 

 the ' Luddites ' resulted, which ended in the conviction of sixty-six 

 persons and the execution of seventeen. In 1825 occurred a strike 

 for wages, which was protracted during ten months, at an immense 

 expense to the trades' unions, and at a dreadful sacrifice of comfort 

 on the part of the operatives, who were plunged into a state of 

 poverty from which they were long in recovering. Since that time 

 the history of Bradford has been one of continued prosperity, and it 

 may be regarded now as the most rapidly advancing town in 

 Yorkshire. 



The parish church of Bradford, dedicated to St. Peter, was erected 

 in the reign of Henry VI. ; the tower is of later date. It is princi- 

 pally of the perpendicular style of architecture, but has no remark- 

 able exterior attraction. Christ church was erected in 1813 ; its 

 interior is commodious, but externally it is heavy ; it was enlarged in 

 1828 and 1836. Other churches of recent erection in the town or 

 vicinity are : St. Jude's, erected in 1843 in the town of Bradford ; 

 St. Paul's, built in 1847 in Manningham township ; St. James's, 1837, 

 and St. John's, 1839, both in Horton township, in addition to an older 

 chapel-of-ease in the same township ; St. Paul's, built in 1841, in 

 Bowling township ; Bankfort, 1850, and Shelf, 1851. The number 

 of places of worship belonging to Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, 

 Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Unita- 

 rians, Quakers, &c., in the whole borough, is about thirty. A neat 

 Presbyterian chapel was built in 1849. 



The academic establishment called Airedale College, at Undercliffe, 

 adjacent to Bradford, is for the preparation of young men for the 

 ministry in the Independent churches. This academy has been 

 several times removed since its first establishment in 1665. It has 

 been placed in connection with the University of London. Its endow- 

 ments have been much enlarged by a benevolent lady of Bradford. 

 The annual revenue from funded property amounts to nearly 5001. a 

 year. It is under the care of three professors, one of whom is presi- 

 dent. The number of students in 1851 was 22. The Baptists have 

 a college at Horton which was established in 1805. Its income in 

 1848 was about 1200/. ; the number of students was 26. The Wes- 

 leyau Methodists have one of their seminaries for the education of the 

 sons of ministers at Woodhouse Grove, near Bradford ; it was founded 

 in 1812, and is said to have been found extensively useful Its design 

 is to " supply the children of ministers with an education suitable to 



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