BINGLEY TOWN CENTRE CONSERVATION AREA
Historical Development
Bingley is located on narrow, slightly raised beds of alluvial deposits and glacial drift, the drift forming part of a glacial moraine. Situated at the base of a narrow valley the settlement was strategically placed at a crossing point of the River Aire with routes converging from surrounding uplands to the river crossing and town. The topography later forced the modern road, railway and canal to pass in close proximity through the eastern side of the town. Bounded by the River Aire to the west, the eastern side, in earlier times, appears to have comprised an area of springs, marshland and bog.
Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bingley is suggested by the Old English place-name Bingheleai, most likely meaning the forest glade or clearing of Bynna's folk, derived from the personal name Bynna, and leah, a clearing in a wood. Apart from a cross fragment of this date, displayed in Bingley parish church, there is no known physical evidence for Anglo-Saxon occupation at Bingley.
According to Domesday records of 1086 Bingheleai comprised an area of wood and pasture 4 leagues long and 2 broad. Gospatric held 4 carucates of cultivated, taxable land, enough for two ploughs. The survey does not record a church at Bingley, but many churches of no value were often not recorded. After the Conquest Bingley was granted to Erneis de Burun, later to be succeeded by Ralph Pagnell and his descendants.
Both monastic and military orders, the Knights Templars and the Hospitallers, had acquired property and land at Bingley by the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in the vicinity of the church. William de Paganell, Ralph's grandson, granted Bingley church and land to Drax Priory, between 1120-1140.
A weekly Sunday market was granted to Maurice de Gant by King John in 1212. The market may have been first held within the churchyard, as customary elsewhere, prior to its site on Main Street. The market cross, moved to its present location near the Arts Centre in 1984, possibly dates to this period. The granting of the market would have raised Bingley's status to a market town or borough, and probably played an important role in the development of Bingley, resulting in a linear settlement, or a new town, spreading southwards, from earlier development around the church, along both sides of Main Street. Tenements by the late 14th century would have extended from the highway or Main Street to fields at the rear, as illustrated on Saxton's map of 1592.
Manorial holdings at Bingley in the 13th and 14th centuries included a common oven, a 'water mill' (corn mill) and fulling mill, the 'water mill' possibly situated near Ireland Bridge. There was no 'capital messuage' according to a survey of 1273, but the field-name Castle Field, on high ground known as Bailey Hills, to the north of the present cemetery, may relate to an earlier residence of the Lord of the Manor or his bailiff. The residence was possibly situated within pre-existing earthworks since the element Castle or Castel could allude to a fortification or earthwork. The 1852 O.S. 6" to 1 mile map records the supposed site off 'Old Castle' immediately south of Castle Fields. By the 14th century the population comprised 41 burgesses, 24 free tenants, with a number of bondmen and cottars; tax returns of 1379 record two innkeepers, two tailors, a carpenter and shoemaker.
The 16th to 18th centuries were a period of growth with refurbishment of the church and further development on Main Street. Development, according to Saxton's map of 1592, was mainly confined to Main Street. The map includes an illustration of a substantial house that stood on its own opposite from the church tower, called 'New Hall' and that is known to have been in existence by 1571. A plan of John Ferrand's estate of 1762 illustrates the eastward extension of the town towards Park Road. This settlement pattern, of both building and routeways, appears to have been retained until at least the mid-19th century, with additional properties mainly added to the rear of tenements.
Industrial activity included limestone extraction and burning, which is documented in the early 17th century, increased with the opening of the canal in 1773. By the late 18th century cotton manufacture was the staple industry; the worsted trade developing in the early 19th century. The town was on a coaching route with coaches departing to Leeds, Bradford, Skipton and Kendal from three inns in the town. These included the King's Head and the White Horse Inn, which had livery stables and advertised carrier's carts in 1869 for conveyance to Harden for 6d and to Cullingworth for 1s. The opening of the railway in 1847, and the increased prosperity and growth of the town, led to improvements within the conservation area which included the demolition of buildings, paving, and road widening. Prior to this the Improvement Commission purchased the manorial rights and various Main Street plots. Main Street was widened in 1872 and the Keighley Road was cut through the church graveyard in 1904. By 1909 large-scale urbanisation had occurred eastwards, towards Ferncliffe, with encroachment upon the Myrtle Grove area to the south.
|